Ultimate power in Iran’s convoluted governing structure is held by the aptly titled Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. He’s the one who twice blessed the fantasy election tally over the weekend, before trying to buy some time by asking the Guardian Council — half of whose members he appoints — to have another look at it.

But Khamenei’s power is not unchecked, at least while Iran’s rulers are still playing by the rules they set for themselves. The 86-member Assembly of Experts, led by Khamenei’s rival Ayatollah Rafsanjani, has the formal authority to remove him and name his successor.

Rafsanjani, who openly supported Mir Hossein Mousavi prior to Friday’s vote, has been publicly quiet since. Educated guesses have him doing some vote-counting of his own among the Assembly, assessing how much power he has to confront Khamenei.

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Iranians
65 million, roughly two-thirds under 30 years old — too young for the Revolution, too young to even remember the Iran-Iraq war. And while we tend to view Iran as a Shia nation in a region of Sunnis, locally they view themselves as Persians (51 percent), Azeris (24 percent, including Mousavi), and a half-dozen other ethnic groups, including Kurds (7 percent). But the nation can also be sliced into urban/rural groups, rich/poor, and other politically familiar divisions. All politics is local — until you rattle nukes at them.

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Fearful that the Charlatan Right would get all the attention for exploiting a tragedy, PETA rushed to Wichita last week to get their not-at-all-profoundly-inappropriate billboards posted around town.

And after the expected refusals from the local billboard companies, PETA was then able to get some free coverage from the local paper (and now, us).

PETA has denied ties with the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front, two groups named by the FBI as “domestic terrorists” in 2002. (And if PETA’s hyperactive trollers would like to drop by and deny those ties in person, welcome!)

But even if PETA stormtroopers regularly crashed our door to grab our cold, dead chimichanga from our microwave, it’s not like they have a major cable network and popular radio bloviators cheering them on. Everybody hates them.

PETA abandons plans for ‘vegetarian’ billboards [Wichita Eagle]

Rupert Murdoch, Monday:

If we weren’t fair and balanced, we wouldn’t have the number one network in news — by a very wide margin. People believe we’re fair and balanced, and they love us.

Charles Krauthammer, Tuesday:

What Fox did is not just create a venue for alternative opinion. It created an alternate reality.

Shep Smith, Wednesday:

I read a lot of email around here, and the email to me has become more and more frightening. It’s not a new thing — it’s been happening over the past few months. It’s been happening to some degree since the election process went along. I mean we had a woman, we had a black man, we had a lot going on… I read it, and they are out there — I mean out there in a scary place.

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“I always wanted you to admire my fasting,” said the hunger artist.

“We do admire it,” said the overseer, affably.

“But you shouldn’t admire it,” said the hunger artist.

“Well then we don’t admire it,” said the overseer, “but why shouldn’t we admire it?”

“Because I have to fast, I can’t help it,” said the hunger artist.

Small crowd joins Cindy Sheehan-led Bush protest in Dallas [WFAA, via Think Progress]

Dueling protests square off near Bush’s Dallas home [Fort Worth Star-Telegram, via TP]

There’s a scene beloved among fans of the original Star Trek — no, not the Green Babe — where a classic Greek paradox is enacted for our viewing pleasure.

The setup is that Kirk and his nemesis Harry Mudd are being held captive by a group of androids. Kirk tells the Head Android that Mudd is a congenital liar. Whereupon Mudd tells the Android, “I am lying.”

This, as they say, does not compute. The Android tries to work out the logic — if Mudd is a liar, then his statement is a lie, but if his statement is a lie, then he’s telling the truth, only he’s a liar — and by the third or fourth round, smoke starts issuing from his ears. And then his head tilts.

Which is a fair description of what happened to us when we learned that Rush Limbaugh and his merry band of wingnuts are calling for a boycott of GM because we own it now.

Right-Wingers To Boycott GM? [TPM]

Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said ‘time to delivr on healthcare’ When you are a ‘hammer’ u think evrything is NAIL I’m no NAIL.
– United States Senator Chuck Grassley
(R-Twitter)

• A 13-year-old girl.
• Dancing with Beyoncé.
• Prince’s lyricist.
• Paris Hilton’s BFF.
• Wearing an enormous timepiece.
• Rockin’ his Hammer Pants.
• Available at Home Depot.
• Gangsta.
• Handling 140 characters well.
• Making sense.

Senator says Obama ‘got nerve’ to push lawmakers [AP]