Crucible?

David Broder writes a decidedly odd column. Well, not really odd, more of a lament for Lamont. For in Broder's view, the Connecticut Senate race is all about how the nation views the entire war in Iraq and the war on terror, by extension. He opens by explaining how only Alan Schlesinger, the Republican candidate, was having any fun at all at the last debate. Then he tells us more:

It is not clear what the performance by the underfinanced Schlesinger, who has been officially abandoned as a candidate by the state and national GOP organizations, will do to the race. Lamont strategists hope he will attract more voters from the Republican base and thereby deprive Lieberman of support he might get from Republicans grateful for his sticking with President Bush on the war.

Lamont has no appeal to those Republicans and is also losing to Lieberman among independents, who respond to the senator's claim that he follows his conscience on national policy and delivers for the state. Polls also show that Lieberman has been taking more than one-third of the Democratic vote from Lamont. Reducing that percentage has become the chief objective for the Lamont campaign.

…

The outcome of their fight is important nationally for the meaning that will be attached. While other states such as Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio and Virginia will decide whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate, this Connecticut race constitutes perhaps the nation's clearest test on the Iraq war.

Lieberman insists he is not wholly in the Bush camp but still argues that a victory in Iraq is possible and essential for American security — whatever that may mean. "I'm not ready to give up on the Muslim world," he said, adding that a democratic Iraq could serve as a model for the Middle East. His winning and returning to the Senate and its Democratic caucus would slow, if not reverse, growing pressure from the Democrats for an early pullout of U.S. forces.

On the other hand, should Lamont repeat his primary win over Lieberman and capture the seat, it would add immeasurably to the momentum of the antiwar forces. He says that he is running in order to end the nightmare of "140,000 of our brave troops stuck in the middle of a bloody civil war."

Broder, rather obviously, has a side here in the debate. Sadly for him, Lamont is not the candidate Broder wishes him to be. That, I rather suspect, is the point of the piece. Broder wants a debate that isn't happening. No, not really a debate. He wants a specific outcome in a specific direction. And he sees it won't happen with Lamont.

UPDATE: QandO: The crucible isn't exactly the way Broder is presenting it. It is primarily an internal debate within the Democratic party which will have real results in determining the direction of the party.

A Certain Darkness, A Certain Light

The Anchoress. Please read what she wrote.

Everyone, all of us, whether we see it or not, is broken in one way or another. It is how we get past being broken that matters. It is how we refuse the darkness and choose to pass on the light that matters.

The Beat Goes On

Or at least the voting does at the United Nations General Assembly. Venezuela can't get to 100 votes no matter how many time the ballots are cast. Guatemala can't get to the 2/3 majority. This would be a deadlock. Neither country will withdraw at this point. So, the only way forward is by a compromise. But that isn't looking like a real good possibility at this point.

The two contenders — U.S.-backed Guatemala and Venezuela, led by its fiercely anti-American President Hugo Chavez — refuse to budge, though it has been clear since the early ballots that neither can gain the needed two-thirds support in the 192-nation U.N. General Assembly.

Frustrated diplomats from Latin America and the Caribbean met Wednesday, hoping to find a solution that would avoid another fruitless confrontation in the General Assembly.

But Ecuador's U.N. Ambassador Diego Cordovez, who chairs the 34-nation regional group, reported there was no imminent solution. Wednesday afternoon's voting, he said, would have to go ahead.

It did, for six rounds, and mirrored previous results: Guatemala led Venezuela but couldn't win a two-thirds majority. Voting resumes on Thursday.

Cordovez said, however, there is hope a solution may be found.

He held talks with the Guatemalan and Venezuelan ambassadors "in a very good atmosphere," and he said negotiations will continue Thursday with the foreign ministers of both countries.

"My expectation is that we are going to have — perhaps not tomorrow because these are very difficult things — but that we are going to have an agreement," Cordovez said.

He said that agreement would indicate what both countries are going to do themselves and a decision on a compromise candidate.

Mexico's U.N. Ambassador Enrique Berruga said he was "hopeful more than optimistic" that the two foreign ministers will come up with a quick solution. That's because of "their entrenched positions," with each saying "no you quit first," he said.

"Our expectation is that they can come to an agreement — and that that agreement is the way forward," he said after Wednesday's voting in which Guatemala received between 100 and 109 votes while Venezuela got between 72 and 84 votes.

Berruga outlined three scenarios: that one of the two countries withdraws in favor of the other, that both quit and recommend a compromise candidate be adopted by consensus, or that both agree to quit but pass the ball on choosing a third candidate to the Latin American and Caribbean Group.

This is probably the big sticking point right now. Chavez will want one of his lapdogs if he can't take it himself. Those backing Guatemala won't stand for that. Pull up a chair folks. This may take a while.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Vampires

Ah, the creature of the night. The undead who has no reflection in a mirror. The Nosferatu, creature of death yet also of mythical ability to attract his (or her) next victim. The unholy, undying monster that only fears sunlight, crucifixes, garlic, wooden stakes and bad movie reviews.

And, incidentally, the mathematical impossibility.

University of Central Florida physics professor Costas Efthimiou's work debunks pseudoscientific ideas, such as vampires and zombies, in an attempt to enhance public literacy. Not only does the public believe in such topics, but the percentages are at dangerously high level, Efthimiou told LiveScience.

Legend has it that vampires feed on human blood and once bitten a person turns into a vampire and starts feasting on the blood of others.

Efthimiou's debunking logic: On Jan 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600.  A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on.

If mortality rates were taken into consideration, the population would disappear much faster. Even an unrealistically high reproduction rate couldn't counteract this effect.

"In the long run, humans cannot survive under these conditions, even if our population were doubling each month," Efthimiou said. "And doubling is clearly way beyond the human capacity of reproduction."

Not that that stops some people from playing at being "vampyres", as they like to style themselves:

LONDON (Reuters) - Vampyres are prowling for new recruits in London as Halloween approaches to partake in wild parties, trips to Transylvania and bat spotting nights — but coffin-dwelling, blood drinkers need not apply.

With a penchant for custom-made fangs, striking make-up and gothic clothes, members of the London Vampyre Group (LVG) say it's their fascination with the romantic notion of vampires, rather than any darker intent, that draws them together.

"People who think they're un-dead, hundreds of years old, or that you have to drink blood if you're interested in the dark side of things, we can put them right on that," LVG's Mick Smith, 57, told Reuters in an interview in a London pub.

"The drinking of blood is a taboo. It's a point of view that we don't tend to represent, but we think it is something that should be articulated," said Smith, wearing a sombre black suit.

They may be conservatively attired lawyers or computer programmers by day, but Vampyres are transformed by flamboyant clothes after dark for the Dance of the Damned Vampire Ball and Requiem of the Resurrected parties with gothic belly dancing.

The Halloween Goth Ball in Whitby, where Bram Stoker was inspired to write "Dracula," is a major calendar fixture. Trips are planned to the Czech Republic's gothic castles and ossuaries, and to New Orleans, setting for Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire."

Ah well. If they want to play dress-up and pretend, who are we to nitpick? It sounds a bit silly and very pretentious, but we suppose 'vampyre' sounds more interesting than 'losyr'.

Slippery Slopes

Eugene Volokh on the New Jersey Supreme Court decision on gay marriage:

….this decision, whether you like it or not, seems to be an illustration that the slippery slope is a real phenomenon. Even when there are conceptually quite clear distinctions that could be used to distinguish the first step A from the final step B, A may nonetheless help bring B about.

….

One can condemn this slippery-slope effect, or praise it. (I support same-sex marriages and civil unions as a policy matter (see PDF page 37), but I don't think that state courts should mandate them as a constitutional matter.) But I think that one can't dismiss the possibility that slippery slope effects, good or bad, are indeed present here, and can be present in similar contexts. And this is so even when, as a purely logical matter, the initial steps (employment discrimination bans, domestic partnership laws, hate crimes laws, and the like) are eminently distinguishable from the final step (same-sex civil unions).

This is an important point to remember folks. This really exists.

UPDATE: Tigerhawk has some excellent points on this. This is the wrong way to accomplish social engineering and in the long run is a setback for proponents of gay marriage. Greg Tinti also has thoughts. This wraps the whole thing up perfectly:

This statement is applicable to many issues championed by the Democratic Party. Too often, too much time is spent trying to figure out how to do something rather than trying to convince people why something is right.

Dow Hits 12,134

Another record close, an almost unprecedented string of record closes.

The Fed's Open Market Committee kept the nation's benchmark rate unchanged at 5.25 percent for a third straight meeting, but it noted in its accompanying policy statement that readings on inflation have moved higher recently. Stocks waffled after the Fed's decision was released as investors worried that inflation concerns could prompt the central bank to resume its rate increases in the future.

There may also have been some disappointment on Wall Street because "it's not a sign that the Fed is going to be cutting rates anytime soon," said Drew Matus, senior economist at Lehman Brothers.

Still, the market held up well. There were really few, if any, surprises in the Fed's statement, which described the economy as likely to grow at a moderate pace after more than two years of rate increases.

"I think that the stock market, if it has one mind, is saying the soft landing is in place, that the Fed is on hold for a while," said Jerry Webman, chief economist at Oppenheimer Funds.

"The stock market thinks the Fed just patted them on the back and said, go ahead boys and girls," Webman said.

The Dow rose 6.80, or 0.06 percent, to 12,134.68. After the Fed announcement, the Dow reached another new trading high of 12,147.97 before pulling back; it also set new trading and closing records the previous session.

Broader stock indicators also closed higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.84, or 0.35 percent, 1,382.22, putting it at a nearly six-year high. The Nasdaq composite index rose 11.75, or 0.50 percent, to 2,356.59.

Bonds rallied, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.76 percent from 4.82 late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude settled up $2.05 at $61.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a weekly Energy Department report showed an unexpected drop in crude inventories. Meanwhile, sentiment has grown in recent days that OPEC production cuts might help shore up oil prices. On Friday, oil prices fell to their lows for the year.

Anybody paying attention? …….. Look! Isn't that Barack Obama?

More Menacing Manatee Madness!

We continue to bring you all the breaking news on the animal uprising. Earlier this year we warned people near the Hudson River in New York that they were in imminent danger from a man munching manatee invasion. People thought we were a bit odd. Then the beasts turned up off the coast of Rhode Island. People whispered behind our backs.

Now it's Memphis, Tennessee's turn. Let's see you laugh this one off!

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A misdirected manatee apparently swam 700 miles up the Mississippi River to a chilly harbor near Memphis' downtown riverfront, prompting rescue plans by wildlife officials.

The docile, endangered marine mammal, about 8 feet long and 1,000 pounds, is far north of its natural range along the southeastern U.S. coast. Biologists have no idea how it got there and worry its health is failing because the species' digestive systems shut down in cooler water.

"We're working on a rescue plan and hope to have the animal rescued within the next 48 hours," Nicole Adiemy, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Wednesday. "Then we'll put it on a truck and haul it to Florida."

James Jackson alerted authorities to the manatee on Monday, a day after he and another fisherman spotted it in a shallow waterway near downtown. At first the two disagreed over whether it was a baby hippo or an alligator.

Adiemy said the plan was to catch the animal in a net, perhaps on Thursday, and take it to SeaWorld Adventure Park in Orlando, Fla., with help from park specialists.

Manatees normally are moving into Florida rivers this time of year, but not the Mississippi, said Pat Rose, executive director of the Save the Manatee Club in Maitland, Fla.

They're going to rescue it? Are they mad? What kind of people live in Tennessee these days? For heaven's sake people, I have a great recipe for manatee brisket around here somewhere. Just send a SASE and $29.95.

Talk About A Pot Bust

A crack addict decided he was going to go on a little burglary spree to feed his habit. He definitely picked the wrong house to try to steal some golf clubs from, though. The homeowner heard the warning shouts of a neighbor and ran downstairs to confront the thief. And she captured him, too.

By beating him over the head with a 10-inch cooking pot.

Sabrena Davis said she first grabbed a knife after a neighbor yelled to tell her that a man had taken the clubs, but then decided to instead attack him with a 10-inch cooking pot.

"I started beating him with it. He asked for it," she said.

Davis' attack slowed Timothy A. Simison, 27, until police arrested him outside her home Tuesday morning shortly after she had whacked him in the head and shoulders with the pot.

The Hartford City man, who was being held without bond Wednesday at the Delaware County Jail, faces preliminary charges of attempted burglary and theft.

Police said Simison was on a crack cocaine binge when he tried burglarizing the two-story house where Davis, 36, lives with her brother, Maurice Garrett.

A neighbor who noticed Simison on the enclosed front porch where Garrett keeps tool boxes, tackle boxes and golf clubs cornered Simison on the porch and yelled to Davis, who ran downstairs and attacked with the pot.

Simison tried to escape custody several times, including working his handcuffed hands from behind his back to his front by passing them under his feet, said Muncie police Lt. Al Williams.

When police searched Simison before placing him in a holding cell at city hall, they found a cell phone in one of his socks belonging to one of the officers who had transported him.

Well, he was persistent, wasn't he? We fully expect an immediate move from certain politicians to ban cooking pots. Since there is no constitutional right to keep and bear pots this one should be really easy for them.

A Fork(Lift) In The Road

Or at least in the parking lot. An angry shopkeeper in Mahopac, New York became irate when another man parked his car in such a way to block access to a storage container. Words were exchanged. Then the shopkeeper punched the man's car. Failing to achieve a knockout, he then proceeded to bring out the big weapon:

A forklift.

Karst said the episode began at about 5 p.m. Oct. 16 at a strip mall on Route 6 in Mahopac. Safrah felt the car, though legally parked, was blocking his access to a storage container or trash bin and got into a heated argument with the driver, who was an employee of another store and was no longer in the car. Police did not release that man's name.

The police report, issued Tuesday night, says Safrah then punched the side of the vehicle, denting it. Then he took the controls of a forklift in the parking lot, maneuvered its lifting mechanism under the car and lifted it upward. The car was not moved out of the parking spot, however.

"We don't know what his intention was," Karst said.

Karst said he did not know who owned the forklift, but it probably belonged to another of the businesses.

After lifting the car, Safrah allegedly punched the driver in the mouth. The victim was injured but not seriously, Karst said.

The car was eventually lowered from the forklift.

Sometimes when you're faced where a situation where your temper wears thin, you face a fork in the road. You can either walk away, or you can do something stupid. I think we know which path this guy took. Or if you can't help yourself, at least get one of these puppies and make it worthwhile.

Argentina Asks For Warrants For Former Iranian Leaders

This is extremely interesting. Prosecutors in Argentina have asked a judge to issue arrest warrants against former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven other former officials for planning and ordering the bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1993.

The decision to attack the center "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest authorities of the then-government of Iran," prosecutor Alberto Nisman said at a news conference.

He said the actual attack was entrusted to the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah.

The worst terrorist attack ever on Argentine soil, the bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured more than 200 when an explosive-laden vehicle detonated near the building.

Iran's government has vehemently denied any involvement in the attack following repeated accusations by Jewish community and other leaders here.

Prosecutors urged the judge to seek international and national arrest orders for Rafsanjani, who was Iran's president between 1989 and 1997.

They also were asking the judge to detain several other former Iranian officials, including a former intelligence chief, Ali Fallahijan, and former Foreign Minister Ali Ar Velayati.

They also said they were urging the judge to order the arrest of two former commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, two former Iranian diplomats and a former Hezbollah security chief for external affairs.

Nisman and fellow prosecutor Marcelo Martinez Burgo said they suspected that Hezbollah undertook activities outside Lebanon only "under orders directly emanating from the regime in Tehran."

That could be a problem for Iran right now if the judge requests international warrants.

Change Tactics, Not Strategy

That is the message from Bush's press conference today. Here's the link to the full text from the White House. The Associated Press report is, surprisingly, a straight take on the press conference. It is not an editorial masquerading as a story. There were a couple of rather good answers to questions and I think it went about as well as could be expected.

As the enemy shifts tactics, we are shifting our tactics, as well. Americans have no intention of taking sides in a sectarian struggle or standing in the crossfire between rival factions. Our mission is to help the elected government in Iraq defeat common enemies, to bring peace and stability to Iraq, and make our nation more secure. Our goals are unchanging. We are flexible in our methods to achieving those goals.

….

Yesterday, our Ambassador to Iraq, Zal Khalilzad laid out a three-step approach. First, we're working with political and religious leaders across Iraq, urging them to take steps to restrain their followers and stop sectarian violence.

Second, we're helping Iraqi leaders to complete work on a national compact to resolve the most difficult issues dividing their country. The new Iraqi government has condemned violence from all quarters and agreed to a schedule for resolving issues, such as disarming illegal militias and death squads, sharing oil revenues, amending the Iraqi constitution, and reforming the de-Baathification process.

Third, we're reaching out to Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, and asking them to support the Iraqi government's efforts to persuade Sunni insurgents to lay down their arms and accept national reconciliation. The international community is also supporting the international compact that outlines the support that will be provided to Iraq as it moves forward with its own program of reform. (Emphasis added.)

That's kind of spooky. That's about what I suggested earlier today. Bush did not dodge:

I know the American people understand the stakes in Iraq. They want to win. They will support the war as long as they see a path to victory. Americans can have confidence that we will prevail because thousands of smart, dedicated military and civilian personnel are risking their lives and are working around the clock to ensure our success. A distinguished independent panel of Republicans and Democrats, led by former Secretary of State Jim Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, is taking a fresh look at the situation in Iraq and will make recommendations to help achieve our goals. I welcome all these efforts. My administration will carefully consider any proposal that will help us achieve victory.

It's my responsibility to provide the American people with a candid assessment on the way forward. There is tough fighting ahead. The road to victory will not be easy. We should not expect a simple solution. The fact that the fighting is tough does not mean our efforts in Iraq are not worth it. To the contrary; the consequences in Iraq will have a decisive impact on the security of our country, because defeating the terrorists in Iraq is essential to turning back the cause of extremism in the Middle East. If we do not defeat the terrorists or extremists in Iraq, they will gain access to vast oil reserves, and use Iraq as a base to overthrow moderate governments across the broader Middle East. They will launch new attacks on America from this new safe haven. They will pursue their goal of a radical Islamic empire that stretches from Spain to Indonesia.

….

Wait a minute, let me say — the ultimate accountability, Peter, rests with me. That's the ultimate — you're asking about accountability, that's — rests right here. It's what the 2004 campaign was about. If people want to — if people are unhappy about it, look right to the President. I believe our generals are doing the job I asked them to do. They're competent, smart, capable men and women. And this country owes them a lot of gratitude and support.

Yes, the men and women serving in Iraq deserve our support.

Cannibal Pelicans On The March

It was only a matter of time. Some of the forces of the animal uprising are turning on one another in a species-on-species bloodbath of unparalleled , er, beastliness. Them being beasts and all. Or in this case birds. London's St. James Park was the scene of one such battle of the birds. A cannibal pelican went on a rampage and swallowed a pigeon. No, really. They even have pictures. High definition, too. Best quote: "It was kicking and flapping the whole way down."

Hey! Wait a minute! This could be big. Instead of Poisoning Pigeons in the Park we could use pelicans! Pigeon punishing pelicans!

He Was

On Monday we reported on the 70-year old retired British man living in Germany who was accosted by four muggers. Instead of getting the man's wallet, they got a harsh lesson when the pensioner opened up a mega-sized can of whupass and beat heck out of all four attackers. At the time, the post title asked if this guy was retired from the British SAS.

He was, indeed.

A 70-year-old former British soldier who fought guerillas in Aden and Triad gangs in Hong Kong showed four muggers how it doesn't pay to mess with the SAS.

Douglas O'Dell is past retirement age but the moves he learned as a volunteer in Britain's toughest regiment half-a-century ago stood him in good stead when he was ambushed near his home in Bielefeld, Germany, by four local toughs.

The former Provost Sergeant put paid to the danger on the street like he once took out bandits in hotspots across the globe.

THWACK! The first mistake came when one of the teenagers grabbed him around the throat and said in German: "Give my your money, grandad, if you don't want to get hurt."

"Bad move," said Douglas. "The only part he got right was grandad. If you're gonna grab someone from behind take their arms and pin them to their waist.

"This joker, I was able to grab his elbow, crouch down and throw him over my shoulder. He landed on his back on a fence and squealed like a stuck pig."  

CRASH! As one went down another moved in and Douglas thought he saw him reaching for a knife.   The Birmingham-born divorcee, who has a daughter and three grandchildren, said: "I had the measure of him but I slipped on some wet leaves as he came for me and bashed my face badly on the concrete.

"I saw his boot coming towards my face and I thought: 'No you don't, sunshine.' I grabbed his leg and twisted it until he too was screaming out in agony.

"Then I got to my feet and kicked him in the chest."  

Do read the rest. This guy is Great. One tough old bird.

The Dangerous Time

John Podhoretz points out the two relative time frames that exist in this election cycle. Mainstream Media Time and Blog Time. This is actually an interesting take on what is happening this year.

Those of you on Mainstream Media Time believe the American people are fed up with Republicans, that GOP voters are depressed and won't turn out and Democrats are loaded for bear and will go to the polls even if five feet of snow fall on Election Day.

Your evidence is largely made up of poll data indicating wild discontent with Congress, with Democrats posing severe challenges to scores of Republican incumbents while Republicans are hardly nipping at any Democratic incumbents' heels.

If your clock is set to Blog Time, you believed all that at the start of last week. By last Thursday, however, those of you on Blog Time began to discern a change: Suddenly, things weren't quite so bad for Republicans or quite so great for Democrats.

Blog Timers adduced this not from major evidence, like big polls, but from small data points - trees rather than forests.

Blog Timers noted a Maryland poll indicating a tie in the Senate race there, a seat Democrats are counting on. In Tennessee, they saw Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford deciding to confront his GOP rival, Bob Corker, at a Corker event - and for the first time in a long and confident campaign, looking desperate and worried.

That is an interesting point, isn't it? Podhoretz also points out the danger of the two divergent frames of reference here, though:

If the bloggers get it right this time, this really will be yet another crisis point for Mainstream Media Time - a point at which their most loyal consumers will be compelled to wonder why they're bothering to pay attention to writers and editors whose sense of America is so completely out of whack. Especially if there is another force out there that ate the mainstream media's lunch.

If, however, the bloggers are getting it wrong, this will be the first major blow in their wildly successful rush this decade to dominate the way political news is made, reported and consumed.

This one is well worth reading all the way through. My own view, that I have expressed several times, is that if Ned Lamont fails to win and the Democrats fail to take either chamber of Congress, that the netroots will have discredited themselves as a political force. The flip side of that is that they will have also discredited blogs and bloggers in general to at least some extent. On the other hand, some of us have read the tea leaves and believe the MSM is wrong this year, so if we are correct, we get more credibility. But it is a dangerous time for both the old and the new media as Podhoretz presents it.

 I suspect we'll survive one way or the other.

Meanwhile, In The Real World

While an insane amount of time, ink and pixels are being wasted on discussing campaign advertisements, the rest of the world watches the American political debates and scratches their collective heads. How can the world's only super power spend all its political time discussing sideshows puffed up by carnival barkers? There actually are world events that need some attention. Oh, and some enemies grow bolder figuring no nation so consumed by inanity is to be considered a serious threat.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has expanded its controversial nuclear work by starting a second cascade of centrifuges to enrich uranium, a semiofficial news agency reported Wednesday.

The news came as world powers moved toward introducing a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would impose limited sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to cease enrichment — a process that can produce material for nuclear power reactors or weapons.

The Iranian Students News Agency quoted an anonymous official Wednesday as saying that Iran had started a second cascade of centrifuges two weeks ago and that "gas will be injected into the cascade during the current week."

"We will exploit the new product from the injection," ISNA quoted the official as saying, meaning that Iran would use the enriched uranium obtained by inserting gas into the centrifuges.

The report could not be immediately corroborated as Iranian officials were on holiday for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Neither the official Islamic Republic News Agency nor state television and radio carried the report by ISNA, an agency that receives state funding via the national universities.

Diplomats in Vienna said this week that Iran has started its second cascade of centrifuges in Natanz. The move violates a resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N. watchdog group that has required that Iran cease all enrichment-related activity.

Iran produced a small batch of enriched uranium in February from a cascade of 164 centrifuges at its nuclear plant at Natanz in central Iran. Iran says it plans to install 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz by the end of this year.

Production of enough uranium to fuel a reactor would require 54,000 centrifuges. Although Iran is nowhere near that goal, its successful operation of more cascades of centrifuges indicates the country is gradually mastering the complexities of producing enriched uranium.

But not to worry, our politicians are completely serious and…..Look! Over there! Isn't that Barack Obama?