albany gets back to work - or why state government really doesn't need more power

After a five-week standoff between Republicans and Democrats (two Democratic defections left both parties with 31 members, an evidently untenable situation in state politics) in the New York Senate, the legislature returned to work yesterday. What brilliant compromise led to the resumption of government during the worst economic crisis this country has seen since the Great Depression? None. Instead, one of the idiots who defected in the first place, Pedro Espada, Jr., returned to the Democratic fold. The best part? In the new leadership structure, Mr. Espada will serve as majority leader. (Don't worry, that might not actually mean anything in state politics. But apparently it was enough to convince Mr. Espada to return the Democrats rather than face marginalization a proposed power-showering agreement between one Democratic faction and the Republican party).

The debacle in the New York Senate is merely the most vivid recent illustration (the very fact that Sarah Palin managed to be elected governor of an entire state was probably enough for me) of why transferring more power to the states might not be the brilliant idea Republicans make it out to be. (Or, you know, used to make it out to be until they discovered the wonderful uses of a large government, like unlimited military spending). Throw in Governor Sanford's mysterious week-long disappearance (later, he admitted, due to an affair with an Argentinian woman) and Governor Palin's puzzling resignation (as far as anyone could gather from her rambling speech, the perseverance of the military inspired her to step down in the face of adversity, or at least in the face of bad press and the prospect of being a lame duck governor) and it's a wonder anyone could support shifting more power to this set of politicians. The federal government is not, obviously, the model of brilliance and efficiency (but, then again, as we've all learned in recent months, neither is the private sector), but it is increasingly clear that it remains far superior to state legislatures, at least in terms of marginal functionality.

"death to the dictator"

After an 11-day lull, thousands of Iranians took to the streets again (despite numerous threats of retribution springing from the reigning regime) to commemorate the tenth anniversary student uprising of 1999. At the time, the riots, in response to hundreds of basiji storming the University of Tehran after a reformist demonstration, posed the greatest challenge to the government since the Islamic Revolution. Naturally, those tremors pale in comparison to today's persisting turmoil in the wake of the contested election.

Sadly, the Iranian government appeared to be as good as its word. In the midst of regime's continuing rhetoric about the foreign media agitators (whose journalists have conveniently been banned from the country), it has continued to crack down ever more brutally on those who dare to continue to protest. The demonstrators were greeted with hoards of riot police and basiji militiamen who beat them back with batons, tear gas and gun butts. The government seems determined not to back down -- but every night millions of Iranians continue to climb to their roof tops to shout "Allah'u Akbar" (a la 1979 Islamic Revolution).

more clerics break with khamanei

Despite the increasing crackdown on the opposition (complete with alleged confessions of top reformists officials), a prominent group of religious leaders, Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, declared the contentious election and the new government to be illegitimate yesterday. Furthermore, the released statement went on to call upon other mullahs to stand against the election results and likened the 20 protesters killed during the opposition demonstrators to the martyrs who died for the cause of the Islamic Revolution. The group not only directly defied the rule of Ayatollah Khamanei, whose word is supposed to reign supreme, but also continued to strengthen the allegorical connection between today's reformers and those of the Islamic Revolution (and, by logical, extension between today's government and that of the Shah). Naturally, the group in question has no real political power, but the symbolic significance of this act should not be overlooked -- the fact that an Association created by Khomanei himself has now turned against his successor is momentous indeed.

Meanwhile, of course, the Iranian government continues its increasingly ludicrous attempts to paint Mousavi as an American agent. Today, the Kayhan newspaper published a damning editorial in which its editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, accused Mousavi of "terrible crimes," including murdering innocent people, holding riots, co-operating with foreigners and acting as America's fifth column." Such an editorial (despite its appearance in one of Iran's most prominent newspapers) is unlikely to actually sway anyone's views, especially given the close relationship between Shariatmadari and Khamanei. However, it does serve as an increasingly overt threat that the Iranian government intends to arrest Mousavi if he continues his steadfast refusal to back down.