Vol 1. No. 25.Baltimore, MD  Sat September 04th 2010GIVING YOU THE NEWS THE MSM IGNORES 
Our Contributors:
Comments:
Categories


O's can't rally after Millwood's shaky start
O's can't rally after Millwood's shaky start

Hernandez to pitch for Bowie on Saturday
Hernandez to pitch for Bowie on Saturday

Tillman to start Sunday for O's against Rays
Tillman to start Sunday for O's against Rays

Jones out of lineup; no timetable on his return
Jones out of lineup; no timetable on his return

Four-run rally can't mask defensive miscues
Four-run rally can't mask defensive miscues

Jones gets cortisone shot in ailing shoulder
Jones gets cortisone shot in ailing shoulder

Early voting starts smoothly in area
Voters like convenience and speed

Charlotte McDowell usually has to set aside a few hours to vote, but she hoped that voting early would be somewhat faster. This morning, she and others praised Maryland's first-ever experience with early voting as a great time-saver.




Violetville school community celebrates opening of new building
City, state leaders hold celebration for first new city school building since 1998

State and local leaders joined the community of Violetville Elementary/Middle School on Thursday to celebrate the opening of the school's brand-new building, which is the first new school facility to be constructed in Baltimore in more than a decade.




Hurricane Earl briefly batters Ocean City
Swimming prohibited as surf rises; beautiful weekend expected

Swimming prohibited as winds, waves strengthen




Md. college student collapses while playing volleyball, dies
Freshman collapsed while playing volleyball

Barely three months ago, Catherine "Catie" Carnes and her friends were celebrating their graduation from McDonogh School.




State: Doctor performed abortions without license
Three weeks ago, physician Steven Brigham led a car caravan of patients from his Voorhees, N.J., abortion clinic to his facility in Elkton. After one of the patients was critically injured during her surgery there, Brigham put the semiconscious, bleeding woman into the back of a rented Chevrolet Malibu and drove her to a nearby hospital emergency room rather than call an ambulance.



Comments about Baltimore Reporter:

Perhaps the best part of blogging or the internet in general is the occasional discovery of something unexpected.Over on Baltimore Reporter and Conservative Thoughts is a great and thought provoking article by Robert Farrow.I hope you will follow this link and read this great post.

from conservativecontracts.com


I love your blog

Once again - as happens so often - I have been positioned here on the living room couch, immersed in your blog. You are better than Fox News.

Kevin Dayhoff



Awards and Rankings:

Voted one of the best local blogs:
Baltimore Examiner: 2006



Voted Top 10 most influential blog in Maryland in 2007.
Blog Net News



ElseWhere
Other sites I write for:
Flopping Aces
and Red Maryland

Want to help?
Baltimore Reporter is looking for writers to help counter the biased media. Email us if interested.

My Count Since 10/11/07
~ 4978 ~
Site Meter

.

   

6/21/2009

Rafsanjani Seeking to End Role of “Supreme Leader”?
Filed under: — Robert Farrow @ 11:05 pm

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

AP:

TEHRAN, Iran – A backstage struggle among Iran’s ruling clerics burst into the open Sunday when the government said it had arrested the daughter and other relatives of an ayatollah who is one of the country’s most powerful men.

Threats Watch:

Folks, this is huge. Huge. A report from Saudi Arabia’s al-Arabiya, Iranian clerics seek supreme leader alternative, indicates that Rafsanjani is seeking to eliminate the Supreme Leader. Not just the man, but the position and role presiding over Iranian politics and the Iranian society.

Religious leaders are considering an alternative to the supreme leader structure after at least 13 people were killed in the latest unrest to shake Tehran and family members of Ayatollah Rafsanjani were arrested amid calls by former President Mohammad Khatami for the release of all protesters.

Iran’s religious clerks in Qom and members of the Assembly of Experts, headed by former President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, are mulling the formation of an alternative collective leadership to replace that of the supreme leader, sources in Qom told Al Arabiya on condition of anonymity.

Skipping down a bit, here’s what they seem to have in mind, obviously a bit sketchy at this point.

Members of the assembly are reportedly considering forming a collective ruling body and scrapping the model of Ayatollah Khomeini as a way out of the civil crisis that has engulfed Tehran in a series of protests,

The discussions have taken place in a series of secret meetings convened in the holy city of Qom and included Jawad al-Shahristani, the supreme representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is the foremost Shiite leader in Iraq.

An option being considered is the resignation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran’s president following condemnation by the United States and other European nations for violence and human rights violations against unarmed protestors.

This is a huge development. One of the biggest questions I and others have had since the Iranian protests/revolt/revolution began was whether Mousavi would be any different in tangible effect (Hizballah & Hamas support, etc.) than Ahmadinejad and whether Rafsanjani was seeking to sack ‘Supreme’ Leader Khamenei simply to acquire the powerful position for himself. That question perhaps may have been answered today.

My ears first perked up when word made it through the grapevines over the weekend that Rafsanjani had been meeting with other Ayatollahs and clerics in Qom, and had among them a representative of Iraq’s Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Why? Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in 2007 made two very critical statements: that “I am a servant of all Iraqis, there is no difference between a Sunni, a Shiite or a Kurd or a Christian,” and that Islam can exist within a democracy without theological conflict. You will never hear such words slip past the lips of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei. Ever.

Sistani’s presence at the Rafsanjani talks in Qom, Iran, through a representative brings therefore added significance. And the al-Arabiya report above seems to suggest that Rafsanjani is not seeking Sistani’s support for superficial reasons.

Read the rest.

Also:

Obama Cut Funding for Iranian Democracy Program

Whose side is he on?

Obama Erases Pro-Democracy Money for Iran
By: Kenneth R. Timmerman
Newsmax
Friday, June 19, 2009

Newsmax has learned that the Obama administration also has zeroed out funding for pro-democracy programs inside Iran from the State Department budget for fiscal 2010, just as protests in Iran are ramping up.

Funding for pro-democracy programs began in 2004, when Congress earmarked $1.5 million of the State Department budget for “educational, humanitarian, and non-governmental organizations and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights in Iran.”

The funding ramped up dramatically two years later, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requested $75 million for pro-democracy programs. More than half of the $66.1 million Congress finally appropriated went to expand U.S. government-funded Persian language broadcasting services at Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

But no money has been earmarked for such programs in the administration’s fiscal 2010 foreign operations budget request. Congressional sources told Newsmax they doubted that a Democrat-controlled Congress would add it when the budget comes before a committee next week.

Need I remind readers that Obama recently pledged $900 million in assistance to Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip?

It would be as if President Reagan had terminated support to democracy activists behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980′s and handed it over to the secret police who were enslaving the nations of Eastern Europe.

“I feel terrible and that is why I will go back to the streets”
Iranian student via Twitter

Meanwhile, the violence and bloodshed in Iran continues.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

A young woman named Neda, “voice” in Farsi, shot and killed by Iranian government squad.

PhotobucketNeda looks directly into the camera moments before blood gushes from her mouth and nose as she lays dying on the street in Tehran. The eyes seem to ask: “What are you doing?”

What was Obama doing while all this was going on? Wordsmith has the story. He was taking his girls out to the Dairy Godmother ice cream store in Virginia.

Patterico at Hot Air arranged this contrast between what was happening on the streets of Iran with what one member of the White House press corps was reporting on Saturday:

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Comments »

The URI to TrackBack this entry is: http://www.baltimorereporter.com/wp-trackback.php?p=6509

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)








Search

    What is RSS?
Baltimore Weather

Current Conditions:
Fair, 70 F
FACING UP TO THE
Nation's Finances
National Debt Clock

Ed Reed to begin season on physically unable to perform list (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens star free safety Ed Reed will begin the season on the physically unable to...

Josh Wilson getting up to speed (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Forgive Josh Wilson if his head is still spinning as he tries to get acclimated to his...

Wilson makes self at home with Ravens (The Canadian Press)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. - For cornerback Josh Wilson, the best part about joining the Baltimore Ravens had nothing to do with the team's playoff potential or the proximity to his alma mater, the University of Maryland.

Former Terp Wilson makes self at home with Ravens (AP)
For cornerback Josh Wilson, the best part about joining the Baltimore Ravens had nothing to do with the team's playoff potential or the proximity to his alma mater, the University of Maryland. "Being here and being at home is definitely No. 2," Wilson said Friday. "No. 1 is having a pass rush and a front seven that is amazing.

PFW's preseason draft board (ProFootballWeekly.com)
The draft board below will be updated until the start of the regular season. Quarterbacks Rk.

Antrel Rolle fined $7,500 for hit on Mark Clayton (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle was fined $7,500 for his illegal hit on Baltimore...

Spagnuolo mum on Rams' QB starter (AP)
Sam Bradford will have to wait a few days to learn if he'll start the St. Louis Rams' opener. The No. 1 pick certainly has appeared ready for the job. Bradford's opening drive set the tone for a 27-21 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, giving the Rams a 3-1 preseason finish for the second straight season.

Terrence Cody says knee surgery was successful (The National Football Post)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens rookie nose guard Terrence "Mount" Cody proclaimed his...

Owner rankings, Part 2: Split decision at top (Yahoo! Sports)
Jerry Jones has finally gotten a share of the coveted No. 1 spot, sharing the space with a familiar occupant.

Reason for concerns: AFC North (SportingNews.com)
A capsule look at reasons for concern among teams in the AFC North: Baltimore Ravens 1. An offensive line in flux. There is no timeframe when RT Jared Gaither will return from a back injury. The top backup, Oniel Cousins, has missed substantial practice time with a concussion and was inconsistent when healthy. The coaches probably will move RG Marshal Yanda to tackle and insert backup C Chris Chester at right guard. That leaves this unit with little depth.
Maryland News
Links To Others
Maryland Blogger Alliance

National News
Support the Baltimore Reporter. Buy a C.D.



Thank You












Supporters
ConsignmentBee! Auctions


Advertise with Us!
Baltimore Reporter is looking for advertisers to help keep this site going. Email us here.
]
Please ignore the screen cleaner!