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Yo, Dubya, I think that Iranian kid's drinking your milkshake. From a beautiful photo essay by Arash Shiva, photos that the President would much rather you didn't see, on "Life in Iran" in Yes! Magazine.

And to Californians: Don't forget, it's hands free from now on...

Oliver Willis: Obama - Let's talk about 9/11

Political Animal: Blackwater patriots want lawsuit decided under Islamic law.

Chris Floyd: Mad Men: Patholgy, Pretense and Power

Corrente: National Fourth Amendment Defense Day

The Satirical Political Report: Citing 'change over 'experience,' an angry electorate also seeks to replace God.

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: Obama smear merchant welcomed at National Press Club, gets arrested...Media Hall of Shame...Ambush Makeover... MSNBC hosts McCain backer to discuss offshore drilling, but did not mention his former post as energy lobbyist...Putting the "Me" in Memorial...Things we don't see...Ben Stein, liar...Only the cell phones of the Iraqi people record life in Baghdad...Racial fun with Sean Hannity...Fox anchor claims Iranian missle could be fired into the US...Another lesson in Tim Russert's death...Brit Hume loves him some Obama/Muslim smears...Manufacturing differences between McSame & Bush...The press needs to get off the stage...Searching for the source of a bogus story...

I don't know what this means other than something the Bush administration will grab it with both hands to further their aggression towards Iran.

NYTimes:

The International Atomic Energy Agency, in an unusually blunt and detailed report, said Monday that Iran's suspected research into the development of nuclear weapons remained "a matter of serious concern" and that Iran continued to owe the agency "substantial explanations."

The nine-page report accused the Iranians of a willful lack of cooperation, particularly in answering allegations that its nuclear program may be intended more for military use than for energy generation.

Part of the agency's case hinges on 18 documents listed in the report and presented to Iran that, according to Western intelligence agencies, indicate the Iranians have ventured into explosives, uranium processing and a missile warhead design - activities that could be associated with constructing nuclear weapons.

"There are certain parts of their nuclear program where the military seems to have played a role," said one senior official close to the agency, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under normal diplomatic constraints. He added, "We want to understand why."

The atomic energy agency's report highlights the amount of work still to be done before definitive conclusions about the nature of the program can be made, a task that the official associated with the agency said would require months.

If the IAEA is getting their information from a corrupted US intelligence agency (much like the UN was given "intelligence" on Iraq that came primarily from Curveball), I would hope that they double and triple check sources before issuing their final report.

In an apparent attempt at cuteness, the NYT’s Thomas Friedman wrote a column written as if it were an “Iranian National Intelligence Estimate of America” to Ahmadinejad from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence

It included this bizarre assertion:

True, thanks to Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. Congress decided to increase the miles per gallon required of U.S. car fleets by the year 2020 — which took us by surprise — but we nevertheless “strongly believe” this will not lead to any definitive breaking of America’s oil addiction, since none of the leading presidential candidates has offered an energy policy that would include a tax on oil or carbon that could trigger a truly transformational shift in America away from fossil fuels.

Therefore, it is “very likely” that Iran’s current level of high oil revenues will last for decades and insulate our regime from any decisive pressures from abroad or from our own people.

Except, as Kevin Drum explained, Friedman has it backwards.

All three of the leading Democratic candidates have proposed cap-and-trade plans that auction 100% of their CO2 permits. This is, economically speaking, the same thing as a carbon tax.

If Friedman is aware of this, he should say so. If he’s not, he should get his facts straight.

Will Bunch connects all the dots between Rupert Murdoch, ABC News,  the neo-conservative cabal and ...wait for it...the White House with an Iranian "journalist" who has a less-than-stellar batting average of being factually correct.

Truthdig: The “good German,” was one who would have sought to deny facilitation of the Holocaust by refusing to support the war which empowered it. The "good American" is driven by a sense of moral responsibility to speak out against acts perpetrated in Iraq and elsewhere by American fighting forces ostensibly in support of freedom, but in reality an extension of illegitimate policies reeking of global hegemony and American empire.

SuperFrenchie: To believe that the French vote for Sarkozy indicates some sort of approval for Bush is silly.

Greatscat! Conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been cleared of allegations that she falsified her Palm Beach County voter's registration and voted illegally — this, after a high-level FBI agent made unsolicited phone calls to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to vouch for Coulter.

Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: Condi inspires Iranian artists to cross their arms, look away, or just stay home

The Democratic Daily: Ouch! The L.A. Times reported on Friday that “Retail sales slumped 2.4% compared with April 2006, slipping to $52.6 billion in the most wretched year-over-year showing by major retailers since the International Council of Shopping Centers began tracking the data in 1970.”

Wise Bread: The 'founder' of Mother's Day wants you to stop throwing money away!

Campos wants to know what the U of Tenn is going to do about it....

None of this has even touched on the fact that Reynolds' central claims, upon which his whole argument hinges, are false. The United States isn't at war with Iran, and the Iranian regime has never threatened to use nuclear weapons against our nation. My column emphasized these points, and in doing so essentially called Reynolds a liar. Yet he hasn't even bothered to try to refute that charge -- for the simple reason that he can't....read on

Media Matters:

On the February 16 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage asserted that ABC News correspondent Diane Sawyer was "aiding and abetting" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a February 13 interview in which, Savage claimed, Sawyer had refused to challenge Ahmadinejad's statements denying the existence of the Holocaust. Savage said: "Here Diane Sawyer goes to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and does not once say to him, 'How could you deny the Holocaust? Here are the pictures of the 6 or 7 million Jews that Hitler killed. How dare you do this to the world?' " Savage added: "So Diane Sawyer, in essence, is agreeing that the Holocaust didn't occur."

There's a logic leap worthy of a C-level right-wing pundit. Only problem, Mr. Weiner Savage, is that it's a complete and total lie. Sawyer DID ask about Ahmadinejad's statements and even offered to show him take him and show him records from Auschwitz. But why truth and facts get in the way of a nice little hate on?

While discussing this interview, Savage said Sawyer was "disgusting" and "full of crap" and repeatedly called her a "lying whore," a "prostitute," and a "witch." He added, "I stand by those words, and if you don't like it, sue me. Take me to a court of law for calling you a whore, because you are an intellectual prostitute for what you have done for ratings."

Um, yeah. That glass house looks a little shaky there, Mr. Weiner Savage.