How to wrap your brain around this mess in Iran?  Here’s my formula:

1) Nico Pitney – an Iranian national liveblogging for the Huffington post (good video content);

2) Juan Cole at Informed Comment – he’s a Middle East expert;

3) Talking Points Memo – scroll down the front page – stories are all grouped together;

4) al Jazeera English (last, but not least).

Finally, I found this from Pitney to be very powerful – a female medical student said:

photo: Newscom/AFP

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We have to presume, absent notable developments to the contrary, that Iran’s rulers will emerge from this extraordinary moment with their power intact. They are, after all, following a familiar script: Declare a god-blessed landslide victory, throttle communications, label the opponents anti-revolutionary, arrest as many opposition leaders as you can, throw some hardware on the streets.

But their power, until now, has been maintained under a pretense of legitimacy. It may not be a government beloved by its people, but the millions voting in Friday’s election weren’t calling for an insurrection — they were calling for reform. And, until Friday night, they were confident it would happen, or at least be given a decent chance. This was not an angry election.

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Schtupping a staffer:

WASHINGTON — Republican  Sen. John Ensign of Nevada admitted Tuesday he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff. Ensign told The Associated Press in a statement, “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions.”

[googling]

RENO — Stepping up his re-election campaign, Sen. Harry Reid says his Republican challenger Rep. John Ensign showed a “lack of maturity” in calling so quickly for President Clinton’s resignation.

***

Ensign defended his position on Monday and repeated his call for Clinton to resign.

“I think we are dealing with a very serious problem here. With what we know [this was prior to Starr report – ed.] and what we already knew, to me, the honorable thing to do would be to resign,” Ensign said in a telephone interview from Washington.

I eagerly await his resignation. And Vitter’s.

[memeorandum link]

[politico]

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Two weeks ago we introduced you to Scott Roeder, the murderer of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. At the time we noted that certain details of Roeder’s personal life seemed to fit in to a depressing pattern among right-wing extremists. Like so many others before him who have resorted to violence in the name of a grand, if hateful, ideology, Roder’s personal life was marked by failure. In personal and financial matters Roeder was a wreck, unable to maintain a marriage or hold a steady job.

Now we get word that another right-wing loser has gone on an ideologically inspired murdering spree.  Shawna Forde was a prominent member of the anti-immigrant Minuteman vigilante group that patrols the U.S. – Mexican border. She was also a member of FAIR, the Federation For American Immigration reform. Recently, after befriending Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen vigilante patrol, Forde founded her own branch of that organization called the Minutemen American Defense group and came up with a novel method for funding that group’s activities: she and her associates would rob suspected drug dealers at gunpoint and use the proceeds to keep on keepin’ on It seemed like a great idea at the time, no doubt. After all, what could possibly go wrong with a plan that reads like the plot t0 a Guy Ritchie film?

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One of those interesting-if-true moments:

According to the Cyrus News Agency, Tuesday morning 16 senior members of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were arrested. “These commanders have been in contact with members of the Iranian army to join the people’s movement,” CNA reports. “Three of the commanders are veterans of Iran-Iraq war. They have been moved to an undisclosed location in East Tehran.” This report has not been confirmed by other sources.

Here’s the interesting part:
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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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And in other news, the New York Times is reporting that General Motors has managed to find a buyer for its troubled Saab unit:

Koenigsegg, a small company with just 45 staff that makes only a handful of cars a year, came out of nowhere to emerge as a front-runner to buy Saab.

This is a boutique automobile manufacturer that yearly produces less than twenty units of it’s only model offering, the ultra-exclusive exotic sports car, the CCX. A rather surprising turn of events, indeed. One wishes the new company well.

After the jump: Top Gear‘s Jeremy Clarkson reviews the CCX:

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