Saturday Afternoon Murder in Tehran

WARNING: EXTREMELY DISTURBING, VIOLENT AND GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW

Pray for the people of Iran, their own government is murdering them on their own streets.

Normally I would not even want to view such a video however in the context of this woman's death posting it makes sense. She was after all murdered protesting for the freedoms of Iranians and this cell phone video again shows the world what is going on behind the veil imposed by the Iranian government.

UPDATE: The woman's name is Neda, Farsi for voice. R.I.P.

Iranian "Spy Pigeon" Nailed Over Chicago's Loop - Warning - Bloody Photo

Photo Copyright: Flying Debris - The body of the decapitated camera-equipped Iranian Spy Pigeon that was taken down over Chicago's South Loop early this morning by Frankie the Falcon, a highly decorated Peregrine Falcon who was on patrol last night. Homeland Security has taken the camera and Frankie was last heard squawking "it's falafels and bubbly up on the AON Building tonight baby!"

Following on the heals of "spy pigeons" found flying over Iranian nuclear installations, downtown Chicago experienced it's own "spy pigeon" scare early this morning when overnight "Guard Falcon" Frankie brought down a suspected Iranian "spy pigeon" over the South Loop, the pigeon was found on a ledge outside of the 41st floor of the Chicago Board of Trade Building. Frankie, one of Chicago's Finest Peregrines was not available for comment however a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Office of Internal Affairs said that initial reports are that the take down followed department regulations. The spokeswoman also said that the "spy pigeon" was equipped with a "teeny-tiny camera" that transmitted to a taxi following the pigeon through the streets below, the Spokeswoman helpfully explained that "a cab is the only vehicle that could drive like that without raising suspicions."

Warning: the above is satire directed at the Iranian regime, the Gateway Pundit has the story of the Iranian regime claiming to have captured "spy pigeons."

Iran Releases Rocket Launch Video

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar today blasted Western governments that doubted Iran's "rocket launch" Saturday, a launch that Najjir claimed put a satellite in orbit. Explaining that the "Sahib Safir Estes" Rocket contained an Iranian invention, the "rocket cam", so that he could "prove to those evil infidels wrong!" Here is the damning video.

Ahmadineja Goes to 3D Movie While in Rome!

Actually the crazy guy from Iran has claimed that he was attacked by his enemies who used some sort of X-Ray weapon. The entire story is just strange, first the paranoid nut claims that he is being attacked by x-ray beams from Lord knows where and in response he dons cheap paper glasses with different colored celephane lenses. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and those around him are a very backwards group, the glasses make them look like the casting call for an Iranian version of the Gods Must Be Crazy.

Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit

Iran Dips their Toes into the Iowa Caucus

The world constantly changes and while the management here at Flying Debris constantly struggles to keep up with those changes (Paris and her friends aside) sometimes those changes stick out so much that there is a sore thumb somewhere here in Chicago. Usually that is when one of my sharper buddies will call me up (say, on the morning after Thanksgiving) to ask a level headed "what the ...?"

Yesterday morning one of my buddies asked about the following (relatively dull) part of a USDA weekly grain sales and shipment report from the week of Nov. 9-15 that was released Friday: (the following paragraph contains some of grain trading's minutiae and the necessary part is noted below, but if you must read the paragraph, remember, you've been warned! By "Increases" the report means increases in net yearly sales, thus the amount contracted for sale that week and MT stands for Metric Tons.)

Corn: Net sales of 1,845,500 MT were 35 percent above the previous week and 46 percent over the prior 4-week average. Increases reported for Egypt (416,100 MT), Japan (332,400 MT), South Korea (252,300 MT, including 58,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Taiwan (112,800 MT), Cuba (100,000 MT), Colombia (78,700 MT), unknown destinations (75,400 MT), and Iran (74,300 MT, including 71,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), were partially offset by decreases for Lebanon (24,000 MT). Exports of 1,376,600 MT were 9 percent below the previous week and 1 percent under the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (268,400 MT), South Korea (262,000 MT), Mexico (130,300 MT), Colombia (90,800 MT), Taiwan (81,900 MT), Iran (74,300 MT), and Egypt (56,100 MT).

My friend's question was not a grain market question, his was a political question that involved the corn export sales report of "Iran (74,300 MT, including 71,000 MT switched from unknown destinations)" and the export shipments report of "Iran (74,300 MT) ". As you can see from this USDA marketing year report (ended Aug 31) for corn, Iran, which would be in the "Other Asia and Oceania" section, does not show up as a buyer of any American corn during the 2006/2007 marketing year, or in any sales carried over (contracted for in a previous year but not shipped until the noted marketing year) from before Aug. 31, 2006. Folks who deal with these issues are pretty jaded and we have long understood that America is shipping grain to countries like Iran, however Iran does not show up on our books either because the sales were listed as destination "unknown" or the grain was sold through a surrogate nation. In the case of Iran that surrogate nation was most often Egypt. Notice that the 2006/2007 marketing year report includes nearly 180,000 metric tons of corn that was sold to destinations "unknown."

Spurred on by my friend's inquiry I crossed the trading floor to ask a few of the guys who trade corn for exporters about the Iranian business and the general consensus was an extremely noncommittal, "well I guess that that the Iranians want to make a statement of some sort." That strikes me as a likely scenario. So something changed last week but as of today it doesn't seem perfectly clear what changed beyond the fact that Iran wants to be publicly known as a buyer of American agriculture products. Iran stated that they had bought food from the "Great Satan".

One reason that Iran decided to show up on the USDA corn export books could possibly involve some heretofore unknown negotiations in which the Iranians are making positive gestures towards the United States. Or it could involve the Iranians making positive gestures before the administration's upcoming Annapolis conference. However, I have a strong suspicion that the Iranian move towards more open agricultural transactions may be rooted in a move towards mimicking some of the Hugo Chavez political tactics that Venezuela uses in America.

Venezuela was a founding member of OPEC and thus far in fiscal 2007 they have sold an average of 1.1 million barrels of crude oil and about 250,000 barrels of refined petroleum per day to the 50 United States (likely limited to the lower 48). During the past few years Venezuelan nearly-dictator-for-life Hugo Chavez has been using Venezuelan oil as a political weapon against the Bush Administration here in the United States. Chavez once famously offered deeply discounted heating oil to homeowners in Philadelphia and even offered to sell subsidized oil to the Chicago Transit Authority, see this excellent Dennis Byrne column from last year. Just last week Mr. Chavez threatened to double the price of oil if the United States dares to take on the Iranian nuclear program.

Chavez has oil as a tool to make trouble in US political circles, and although Iran does export crude oil they are less able to afford to give it away and they do not have the refining capacity to even market petroleum products. However, Iran does import corn and although there is more than corn in Iowa, corn is the most important economic driver in the state. Any decent discussion of the politics of ethanol will hit on the fact that Iowa has both the first Presidential Caucus and more corn than they once knew what to do with. It seems likely that Iran is trying to soften their image by making a very simple switch in how their U.S. corn imports are purchased and accounted for. This switch was made less than forty days before the nation's first Presidential Caucus, in Iowa. I doubt that the timing is a coincidence.

Watch for Democratic rhetoric concerning the Bush Administration's "saber rattling and belligerence" toward Iran to increase in the coming weeks and if Iran starts to show up weekly on the export sales reports I would expect that fact to become more publicly known. Ironically this will matter more to urban Iowans than to farmers because the farmers know that they are already selling corn to Iran.

Hat Tip: Matt

Disclaimer: This post in no way advocates that any trading positions be taken in the corn markets. The writer currently holds no long or short position in the corn cash, futures or option markets.

Ahmadineja Visits Bar in Greenwich Village

Sep. 24 New York. Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadineja visited popular Greenwich Village gay club the Dugout this evening in order to "discover" the gay culture that he claims is absent in Iran. Iranian officials told members of the international press that Ahmadineja wanted to "experience all that the west has to offer" and that apparently included some sort of "experimenting" while visiting the Christopher Street hot spot. Patrons of the club said that the Iranian leader was involved in "some sort of scuffle" in the saloon's expansive bathroom. Rumors even swept the establishment that Ahmadineja was involved in a bathroom sex episode. When asked about the charges by the press the Iranian leader yelled to press scrum "I no gay, he blow me!"

Warning: The above is satire.

Ron Paul, Just as Ignorant as Kucinich

Yesterday afternoon the House of Representatives voted on a resolution calling on the UN to sanction Iran over their illegal nuclear weapons program that they are using to menace their neighbors. Only two idiots were dumb enough to vote against this resolution, Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Ron Paul (R-TX), two dim bulbs who are running for President in their respective parties. I wonder what the wacky "Paul-Bats" think of this latest bit of intellect from their pathetic little hero. The resolution stated the following:

"Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel"

Whatever is wrong with Ron Paul and his followers could probably be helped by a good psychiatrist and the logical move on to the Democratic Party.

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs.

Iranians to Get Stoned Thursday!

Okay, this isn't exactly "2 big fat joints from twenty paces at noon!" Rather it is another religious/judicial stoning death sentence over adultery. I love it that some folks expect me to see those mullahs as reasonable people. The Gateway Pundit has a great piece on Thursday's execution, apparently the holes have already been dug. Pathetic.

Liberals Ignore Geneva Convention

I am still waiting for the liberal outrage over the refusal of Iran to follow the Geneva Convention on POWs; a treaty that both Iran and Britain have signed. This Daily Mail article titled "Iranians Parade Navy Woman in hijab" outlines one of the violations; parading prisoners in front of cameras for publicity. This is contrary to the Geneva Convention, however the ignorant leftists of our world don't care. This is just another example that gives the lie to liberal nonsense concerning their "feelings". The woman in the photo has "confessed" to being in Iranian territorial waters; a lie that has been proven through the use of radar and GPS. This is another violation of the Geneva Convention. What did the Iranians do to illegally coerce her into making those statements? The woman should be in a British uniform rather than an islamic scarf, another violation. The British government has been denied access and the sailors have been kept in a secret place, both violations of the Geneva Conventions. Western leftist will stop at nothing to sell out freedom. Hello NY Times!