Sunday, June 14, 2009

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David Wild: Playlist For A Total Dick-Tator: Songs To Put You In The Mahmoud Top
Recently I did a playlist for Dick Cheney. So in light of recent horrible events, here's my playlist for some other schmuck who insists that he won an election. At your own risk, here's my Playlist For A Total Dick-Tator: Songs To Put You In The Mahmoud: "Elected" - Alice Cooper "The Clampdown" - The Clash "The Winner Takes All" -- Abba "Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads "Boom Boom Pow" - Black Eyed Peas "The Bitch Is Back" - Elton John "Little Man" - Tom Waits "Know Your Enemy" - Green Day "Heartless" - Kanye West "Hoedown Throwdown" - Miley Cyrus "Frail Grasp On The Big Picture" - The Eagles "So Small" - Carrie Underwood "Bastard" - Ben Folds That's mine. What's on your Ahmadinejad hit list? More on Ahmadinejad
 
Jonathan Melber: Protecting Your Art with Paper: Invoices and Art Consignment Forms (VIDEO) Top
The New York Foundation for the Arts just posted the video ( here and below) of my seminar at the annual Business of Art Conference, held last month in New York City. In the video, I explain two important ways to keep track of your art and minimize misunderstandings whenever you sell or consign your work. They both fall under the category "Write stuff down" from Seven Things Every Artist Should Know . First, always use an invoice when you make a sale, even if it's only to family or friends. The invoice segment, which begins at 5:18, goes through the basic issues you should cover in an artwork invoice: date, description of the work, price, collector information; payment deadline; delivery and title; insurance; copyright; future shows; and resale. Second, use a consignment form whenever you give your work to someone who will then try to sell it on your behalf, such as at a group show, an art fair, a benefit auction or a gallery. That segment begins at 12:07, and addresses the terms to include in a bare-bones consignment agreement: venue; inventory list; timeframe; split; payment and collector information; packing and shipping; safekeeping and insurance; unsold work; and cancellation. (To see a more complete consignment agreement with all the legal bells and whistles, check out our samples in ART/WORK .) Important! Before using your own form, show it to a volunteer lawyer for the arts to make sure you're covered. You may have other issues specific to your situation that you should include, and, depending on what state you live in, there may be some legal fine print you need to add.     Jonathan Melber is an attorney and co-author, with Heather Darcy Bhandari , of ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (And Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career (Free Press), a professional-development guide for visual artists. Follow ART/WORK on Twitter here .
 
Robin Meade On Skydiving With President Bush: "I Kept Wondering If I Would Lose My Cookies In Front Of A President" Top
HLN anchor Robin Meade told the Huffington Post about her skydive with former President George H.W. Bush, which took place Friday on Bush's 85th birthday in Maine. "People kept asking all week leading up to this, 'Are you afraid?'" Meade said. "And my answer, up until about 1PM Friday, was: no, I'm thinking more about the interview with President Bush 41 and keeping focused on that, and then I can think about the jump. I gotta tell you, the whole way up in the plane ride I kept wondering if I would lose my cookies in front of a president, his family on the ground and on national television. I'm happy to say I never needed the 'party bag"...but when they said in the plane, 'It's time to go," I told my producer my that my knees were shaking. That's when I finally got nervous." Meade said that while airborne, she "kept sucking down some oxygen for fear I'd get sick," while the former President was consumed looking for his family's Kennebunkport home. "In the plane, he kept looking for the Bush summer home out the window," she said. As for the skydive itself, Meade said "the first two or three seconds in free fall didn't feel so hot" but after her body adjusted it felt more like she was flying. "I think I grunted or squealed once or twice in the jump and when the parachute opens," she said. "It rips and jerks you upward. After the parachute opened I could speak to my tandem partner, Sgt. First Class Kurt Isenbarger, originally from Ohio. He asked as we were parachuting if I wanted to spin and show off and come in fast. I said, no I definitely didn't want to spin. We were coming in fast enough!" Meade added that she and the former President set a date to skydive again in five years. "President Bush invited me to go again when he turns 90." she said. "Deal!" Watch her report: Embedded video from CNN Video PHOTOS: Photos: Jeremy Freeman/CNN More on Photo Galleries
 
CIA Renewed Contract With Psychologists Who Endorsed Waterboarding Weeks After Obama Took Office Before Firing Them Top
Amid the headlines about CIA director Leon Panetta's comments on Dick Cheney's motivations for his criticism of Obama, a much-bigger revelation was tucked into Jane Mayer's new story in the New Yorker . Weeks after Obama took office, the CIA extended its contract with the former military psychologists who have been called the architects of waterboarding before eventually firing them: In April, Panetta fired all the C.I.A.'s contract interrogators, including the former military psychologists who appear to have designed the most brutal interrogation techniques: James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. The two men, who ran a consulting company, Mitchell, Jessen & Associates, had recommended that interrogators apply to detainees theories of "learned helplessness" that were based on experiments with abused dogs. The firm's principals reportedly billed the agency a thousand dollars a day for their services. "We saved some money in the deal, too!" Panetta said. (Remarkably, a month after Obama took office the C.I.A. had signed a fresh contract with the firm.) James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen were paid $1,000 a day by the agency to oversee harsh interrogation techniques used on terror suspects, reported ABC News . "The whole intense interrogation concept that we hear about, is essentially their concepts," according to Col. Steven Kleinman, an Air Force interrogator. Mitchell and Jessen appear to have closed down their business , which was located in Spokane, Washington. Mayer also reports that "most of the individuals who managed the secret interrogation program have since left the agency" except for CIA Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes . Kappes was previously the deputy director for operations from 2002 to 2004, where he was responsible for the counterterrorism division that directed the interrogation program .
 
Iran Election Live-Blogging (Sunday June 14) Top
This is the archive of my Iran election live-blogging from Sunday, June 14. For the latest updates, click here . 1:35 PM ET -- Ahmadinejad's rally. I haven't mentioned Ahmadinejad's rally today yet (one reader, apparently an Ahmedi supporter, called me a CIA agent for not doing so). But I was just waiting for video -- and here it is below. The crowds were very large, making perfect images for Iran's state media to beam around the world, as NBC's Ali Arouzi noted. But Arouzi made some important points about the make-up of the crowd: They'll certainly be some people from Tehran that supported him. During the election campaign, there were busloads of people brought in from the villages here to gather support for him. I spoke to one local journalist, he told me these are rent-a-mobs, that they bussed them in by the busload so it looks like he has a lot of support. I mean, to be fair, it will probably be a mix of people, supporters and people brought in from outside. There's also a lot of [paramilitary organization officials] who dress in civilian clothes and are loyal to him. Their numbers can swell up to one or two million people, so they'll be large in the turnout as well. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy 1:22 PM ET -- Mousavi's next steps. TehranBureau.com reports that Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, today appeared publicly for the first time since the protests erupted, laying out the plans for resistance going forward. The indispensable NIAC summed up her message: "Ghalamnews (Mousavi's newspaper) reports Mousavi is calling for a peaceful march along Valiasr street in Tehran and in 19 other cities on Monday and a national strike on Tuesday. Before the election, Mousavi supporters formed a chain down the entire 18 kilometer length of Valiasr." 1:06 PM ET -- The word from Tehran. An email from an Iranian-American in California, who passes along word from his father abroad. Again, this is not confirmed information (though it dovetails with a lot of the talk on Twitter), but passing along to give a sense of the moment right now. Just got off the phone with my dad. He leaves in northern tehran... He said that most iranians believe that a lot of the basijis [plain clothes officers] on the bikes are hezbollah arabs brought in to do to the citizens what a persian cop would refuse to do. Accordingly when the protesters knock one of the basijis off their bikes they are being particularly brutal, believing that the rider is arab. Regular uninformed cops are not being pursued with the same anger. Bank storefronts have been smashed all over northern tehran. Mousavi, khattami and rafsanjani are allegedly meeting at mousavi's house (who is under house arrest) and are planning their next move. People there are waiting for further instructions from mousavi. In my dads neighborhood bbc persia and voice of america have been knocked off the satellite but not in all parts. Sorry this is rambling I'm getting constant calls from tehran. Will speak to my father again in two hours and will let you know anything new. Please do not mention my name if you blog about this. Thanks. 1:05 PM ET -- Entering the dorms? I noted earlier claims that police had entered the dorms at Sharif University. An emailer sends along this photo as evidence: 1:04 PM ET -- Police run from crowds. Several readers have emailed this video over: 12:34 PM ET -- Iranians on Twitter. Here's a list of several . 12:08 PM ET -- Mass resignations at Sharif University. NIAC : "It has been confirmed that 120 faculty members at Sharif University have resigned in protest of the election, and are gathering in front of the university for a demonstration." Twitter is full of accounts of violence at Sharif University right now, including riot police firing rubber bullets and storming through dorms. I have not seen independent confirmation of this yet (please email me if you have) but fyi. Also, here's video of protests at Khaje Nasir University in Tehran from today, via reader Alex: 12:01 PM ET -- Joe Lieberman weighs in. One of the first official statements from a member of Congress, via email: [T]hrough intimidation, violence, manipulation, and outright fraud, the Iranian regime has once again made a mockery of democracy, and confirmed its repressive and dictatorial character. We as Americans have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with people when they are denied their rights by repressive regimes. When elections are stolen, our government should protest. When peaceful demonstrators are beaten and silenced, we have a duty to raise our voices on their behalf. We must tell the Iranian people that we are on their side. For this reason, I would hope that President Obama and members of both parties in Congress will speak out, loudly and clearly, about what is happening in Iran right now, and unambiguously express their solidarity with the brave Iranians who went to the polls in the hope of change and who are now looking to the outside world for strength and support. As we've noted below, several Iranian American human rights groups have urged just the opposite -- here , for example, is Trita Parsi's National Iranian American Council: The Obama administration's approach to the election -- keeping its comments low-key and not signaling support for any candidate -- was exactly the right approach. While tempting, empty and self-serving rhetorical support for Iranians struggling for more freedoms serves only to aid their opponents. History has made Iran wary of foreign meddling, and American policymakers in particular must be sensitive to giving hardliners any pretense to call reform-minded Iranians foreign agents. That's why Iran's most prominent reformers, including Nobel-laureate Shirin Ebadi, have said the best thing the U.S. can do is step back and let Iran's indigenous human rights movement progress on its own, without overt involvement from the U.S-however well intentioned. 11:29 AM ET -- An Ayatollah dissents. Earlier this morning (9:42), I noted rumors that Grand Ayatollah Sanei, an influential Iranian cleric, had condemned the elections as unlawful. Now a reader of Andrew Sullivan's translates this article from Farsi: Grand Ayatollah Sanei in Iran has declared Ahmadinejad's presidency illegitimate and cooperating with his government against Islam. There are strong rumors that his house and office are surrounded by the police and his website is filtered. He had previously issued a fatwa, against rigging of the elections in any form or shape, calling it a mortal sin. 11:16 AM ET -- "A smash in the face, a kick in the balls and Long Live the Democrator." Robert Fisk reports from Tehran . 10:50 AM ET -- More details on the crackdown. From the New York Times : Dozens of reformist politicians were said to have been arrested at their homes overnight, according to news reports on Sunday and a witness who worked with the politicians. There were also reports of politicians and clerics being placed under house arrest. Meanwhile, some foreign journalists were apparently being told to leave the country. Reuters quoted a judiciary spokesman on Sunday as saying that the reformists had not been arrested but had been summoned, "warned not to increase tension" and released. When asked at the news conference about the whereabouts of his opponents, Mr. Ahmadinejad never answered directly but made vague references to those committing crimes deserving to be arrested. Witnesses reported that at least one person had been shot dead on Saturday in clashes with the police in Vanak Square in Tehran. 10:37 AM ET -- Stunning new video. A reader, Alex, emails over an incredible video -- riot cops riding motorcycles charge directly into a massive crowd that is packed into a street. Moments later, the video cuts to one of the bikes engulfed in flames. The video then shows one of the officers, bruised and exhausted, being helped through the crowd by a half dozen or so Iranians. It's unclear when this all took place -- the video was uploaded today, but it may very well have been from yesterday. Watch: 10:13 AM ET -- Mousavi's latest letter. An emailer, Robert, sends along the full translated version . One key graph: Today, I officially asked the guardian council (who oversees the elections in IR) in a letter to nullify the outcome of this election and I regard this (the nullification) as the only possible way for regaining the people's trust and cooperation with the government. I strongly urge you again to peacefully protest and defend your legal rights civilly and without confrontation and violence all over the country. 10:02 AM ET -- Tossing away the notebook. New York Times columnist Roger Cohen has a powerful report from Tehran : She was in tears like many women on the streets of Iran's battered capital. "Throw away your pen and paper and come to our aid," she said, pointing to my notebook. "There is no freedom here." And she was gone, away through the milling crowds near the locked-down Interior Ministry spewing its pick-ups full of black-clad riot police. The "green wave" of Iran's pre-election euphoria had turned black. [...] Majir Mirpour grabbed me. A purple bruise disfigured his arm. He raised his shirt to show a red wound across his back. "They beat me like a pig," he said, breathless. "They beat me as I tried to help a woman in tears. I don't care about the physical pain. It's the pain in my heart that hurts." He looked at me and the rage in his eyes made me want to toss away my notebook. 9:42 AM ET -- More elite opposition to election results? An emailer, Laleh, writes in with some information from a friend in Tehran. We don't have confirmation on either of these points, but have heard them several times now, so am forwarding on. 1) Grand Ayatollah Yousof Sanei , a major Iran scholar, has apparently declared the elections "haram" -- unlawful. 2) The restrictions on foreign reporters are growing more strict. Laleh relays this from his friend: "The foreign reporters, who most of them are staying at the Esteghlal Hotel, have been forbidden to leave the hotel. A contact who was at the hotel last night witnessed security forces keeping reporters from leaving the hotel and witnessing scenes of unrest nearby on Vali-Asr avenue." 9:31 AM ET -- Report: 160 arrests. "Deputy head of Iranian police says 160 arrested & denies Mousavi under house arrest -- as reported by Mehr news agency" -- from journalist Mina Al Oraibi on Twitter. 9:28 AM ET -- The new calculus. " Tiananmen + Twitter = Tehran ." IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo . 9:23 AM ET -- Biden expresses doubts about Iran's election. Details from the Associated Press, and video is below that: Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday he had doubts about whether Iran's presidential election was free and fair, though the U.S. must accept "for the time being" Tehran's claim that Mahmoud
 

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