Maybe a little slow to comment on this one because of the hyper "we hope it's a revolution!" reporting from our Media Glitterati about the events in Iran, but let sum up my opinion of Benjamin Netanyahu's speech about endorsing a Palestinian state.

Yawn.

Let me clarify it a bit: yawn, yawn, yawn.

I don't know why it was trumpeted in the media as Netanyahu's "historic" speech. Maybe the Israeli leaders want to act like Barack Obama who just gave his historic speech in Cairo. In any case, this might have been a first for Netanyahu to spit out the words "Palestinian state" without barfing, but there's nothing new here. We've seen this pledge and these conditions before; I'm just surprised he didn't throw in the phrase "confederated state with Jordan."

What kind of state can you have if there's no contiguous territory? You just cannot say you support a Palestinian state alongside Israel and insist you can keep your settlements. And please, Bibi, don't give me your talk about how Israel really cannot keep control of the land: we've been hearing this line for a long time now and it's entirely hollow and hypocritical. Don't say it's a moral imperative to stop the occupation and grab more land, deny East Jerusalem as a future capital and deny refugees any justice. And recognize Israel as "Jewish state"? Sounds like a legal formula for some future expropriation to me.

So, if there's nothing new here, then where are we? Absolutely nowhere! It is going to take more than some speech to change the situation, but at least for a while, the Israelis have bought themselves some time. And with the Iranian sideshow commanding everyone's attention, maybe the they can also secretly pray for Ahmadinejad to remain as president so they can continue to bewail their existential threat under a nuclear Iran as further delaying tactic.

In short, it's the same as it ever was.

It's easy to call a revolution from afar.

It's easy to get enamored of the idea of a "democratic" revolution from afar and pretend your analysis reflects reality. And it's also easy to criticize from the comfort of a computer.

So it is with the gasping "revolution" in Iran that has captivated so many in the West. Not really because of an understanding about what the protests are all about, but rather the concept of people using Twitter and the Web. This aspect, while important to be sure, was way overplayed in the West, making it sound as though Twitter was the key component in mobilizing everybody. Hardly. Our Media Glitterati also made it sound as though the government was about to be overthrown because young people want more freedom (read American style democracy) as opposed to a re-vote that has nothing to do with the underpinnings of how that country operates, namely, Islamic law.

I am not an expert about Iran, yet from the start, I got the impression that opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi was not going to be the inspirational revolutionary many had hoped. Now, as I said, it's way too easy to criticize because no one has any true idea what he's actually facing. Nonetheless, about a few days into the whole affair, I told a friend: "He'll fold. He has no idea what to do and in the end, the mullahs will unleash their forces and everyone will back down."

The New York Times is basically reporting as much, indicating that the Iranian leadership is gaining the edge. It will all be over soon.

Of course, I think the mullahs are chock full-o-shit when they say there was no fraud (just like there are no gays in that country) or fall back on the standard excuse of blaming foreign powers. I had to admit, though, I was a little surprised to see Great Britain get the brunt of these attacks. I guess the recession has robbed America of its "Great Satan" crown. Things really are tough.

In the end, the opposition will close up shop because they have no leader and no direction; scores of people will be rounded up, some killed, all while the mullahs congratulate themselves on how wonderful their system is. It remains to be seen if Iranians truly understand they live in a totalitarian regime, but apparently, that's the system they wanted so that's the system they deserve.

Meanwhile, our hapless media fucks will have to re-tool their message, but the death of Michael Jackson should provide them with plenty of time to brainstorm some new approach to Iran. The delightful, easy-to-digest sound bites of a "green revolution" (puh-leeze), the West-friendly (and exploited) death of Neda Soltan, plus the over emphasis on Twitter will have to give way to something more pragmatic and less endearing to Western liberals who like to see themselves in everything.

Good luck with all that.

So, I heard Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Handjob) pissing and moaning yesterday on NPR about Barack Obama's ABC health care address last week and how "the other side" wasn't presented at all. Sure, there might have been a few hardball questions, but the distinguished bib-dribbler from Tennessee dismissed those and wondered why there was no real challenge to the president.

"We didn't get to hear the Republican plan," he whined.

Hey asshole, you know what? Your party basically controls right-wing talk radio, the propaganda blowhole that feeds millions of gullible idiots their daily dose of crap. I haven't heard your alleged plan either, so that means you don't have one or it's barely worth mentioning because the radio airwaves should be inundated with the Repblican hit, er, take, on how to reform health care.

There was a plan that was touted a few weeks ago: where is it now? It was about as detailed as former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's draft to save the banks last year. This is supposed to inspire confidence?

Besides, I read that the Obama special was a ratings dud, so that means more people didn't hear about his plan than they have about yours. But I suspect the real issue is trying that old standby: ABC News was easy on Obama because they're all a bunch of liberals and they want to push the agenda of the White House. Must have made him teary-eyed when he thought of how that worked under Bush the Dumber; those days are over!

All I have been hearing from the Republicans is a steady stream of spoon-clanging that Obama's plan is socialism, socialism, socialism. Not one of these pricks (and their scumbag enablers on the radio) is promoting any idea other than the one treasured weapon their arsenal: fear. But the Harry and Louise of the Clinton era (thanks medical establishment) are no longer here: in case any of these rich assholes has noticed, our health care system sucks. They can piss and moan and fling as much shit as they make all day long; it still doesn't erase the fact that they have no ideas and they love the status quo and want to fight to keep it. Their status quo is private doctor and some flunky to deal with the paperwork. They don't live in the reality-based community where people have to pay large amounts of money for a trip to the ER because their doctor couldn't schedule them in and they have no idea what to do. Tell me your experiences with that, Mr. Alexander. What's that? You've never had that? Wow, what a surprise.

So, come on you fucks. Take to the airwaves, start paying for full-page ads telling us what your health plan is and why it's better than Obama's. The reason you don't is because you don't have shit and you know it.