Editorial Staff

CA Budget Deal Details

By Editorial Staff | 07/21/09

From the Sac Bee, the news story on the budget deal reached last night be legislative leaders in Sacramento: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agreed Monday to erase California's $26 billion deficit by cutting broadly across state government, shifting costs into the future and taking funds from cities and counties. State leaders believe their budget plan is good enough to end the state's issuance of IOUs, a practice California... read more »

Did "Walking-Around Money" Help Cap and Trade Vote?

By Editorial Staff | 07/16/09

In American politics, "walking-around money" has a specialized meaning: it is money given by a party or candidate to campaign workers to pay voters to cast their votes for the candidate. (That's illegal, but has a long history in elections back to the 1800s). Use it in a sentence: Last month, did Speaker Pelosi and Congressmen Waxman and Clyburn use walking around money to purchase support for their disastrous “Cap &... read more »

Mousavi: Protesters Blood Not in Vain

By Editorial Staff | 07/15/09

Mir Hossein Mousavi has vowed not to let the blood of opposition members who have died in post-election turmoil go in vain. Mousavi made the statement during a meeting with the family of a man who was shot during the protests. Mousavi also announced that he will be attending prayer services on Friday, which will be the mark first time he has attended since the crackdown began several weeks ago. The sermon will be delivered by Akbar... read more »

The Green Brief Update

By Editorial Staff | 07/15/09

Josh Shahryar has another update on the situation in Iran. Josh is a translator who compiles the majority of his information from Tweets coming out of Iran. Here is a partial list of the most recent events: * On Sunday night, the main entrance to the Ministry of Information building in Mashhad was set on fire. It has been reported that this was done in retaliation for Monday’s murder of Mehrdad Heydari - a prominent... read more »

14 Iranians to be Publicly Hanged

By Editorial Staff | 07/13/09

Fourteen people are scheduled to be publicly hanged tomorrow in Iran. They were convicted of "fighting against God" which translates to fighting against Iran's ruling authority. "Morahrebe" is the term used to describe their crimes.   In 2008, a blogger named Yaqub Mehrnehab was executed for his morahrebe "crime" after being tried by a revolutionary court. The trial, of course, was closed to the... read more »

Shirin Neshat on the Green Revolution

By Editorial Staff | 07/12/09

This video interview with Iranian-American filmmaker Shirin Neshat sheds light on the opposition movement's desire for basic human rights. Shirin discusses the role that women are playing in the protests and how a younger generation of Iranians, in their quest for freedom, are rejecting the status quo.   read more »

Freed Journalist Describes Iranian Jail

By Editorial Staff | 07/10/09

A freed Greek journalist described his experience in an Iranian jail, saying that he was held in solitary confinement and subjected to long interogations while blindfolded. Iason Athanasiadis said that he was confined  for 18 days in a 5-foot by 8-foot cell and that the jail facility was "bursting with people who had been arrested in the street riots." Athanasiadis is a freelance reporter who had... read more »

"Soraya" Comes to Florida

By Editorial Staff | 07/10/09

The much-discussed film, The Stoning of Soraya M, makes its way to theaters throughout the state of Florida this weekend. Set in a village in 1980’s Iran, Soraya tells the story of a wife and mother accused of adultery, and how under Sharia law a woman in such circumstances must prove her innocence to avoid the most awful of fates. Attached is a sheet which lists the seven Florida theaters in which Soraya opens this weekend, or readers... read more »

Police Fire Tear Gas at Demonstrators

By Editorial Staff | 07/09/09

Iranian police fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators who were marching towards the University of Tehran to commemorate the 10th anniversary of student unrest.The demonstrators were acting in open defiance of recent government warnings prohibiting protests. There were reports that between 200-300 demonstrators chanted "Death to the dictator" and there were shouts in support of opposition leaders, Mir Hossein... read more »

Mousavi Makes Public Appearance

By Editorial Staff | 07/06/09

In his first public appearance in a week, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said that he will continue his campaign against the Iranian government. However, it is being reported that he may abandon street protests after the massive crackdown that resulted in several deaths, multiple injuries and wide-spread arrests. The regime is now acknowledging that Iran's Revolutionary Guard was used to quell the last round of... read more »