We have all watched over the last few days as Twitter went from being a hot social networking tool to being used by brave Iranians to change the world. With media restrictions in place from the Iranian government, the main source of news coming out of Iran was, especially in the first few days, the tweets of students and protestors and supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

As the protest has grown and the days have worn on, the nature of the intelligence one could glean from certain twitter feeds – #IranElection and #GR88, in particular – changed. In the first few days it was a heavy but seemingly pure stream of raw intelligence, dispatches that contained up to the minute updates on everything from events personally observed by the twitters to rumors to video and pictures of the ongoing clash between protestors and government forces.

In the last 48 hours, the main tagged feeds have become diluted: innocently, by western twitterers who have been captivated and motivated by what they’ve read; and more troublingly, by people who are quite obviously disseminating incorrect, inflammatory, or misleading information. The latter is incredibly problematic, as Twitter is not only being used as a source of information for the outside world. It is also being used by activists in separate parts of the country to communicate information about what is happening where they are. So not only does the misinformation dilute the message and news coming from the Iranian people fighting for freedom, it also is detrimental to their efforts, and could very well have life or death consequences.

That is why I’m starting The Rat List – a collection of Twitter users disseminating incorrect or blatantly propagandistic information. Many of these users have new accounts, have no history of accurate updates, and are not trusted sources. They could be Iranian intelligence agents organizing to thwart the efforts of the activists and put down what is becoming a vibrant and viable uprising. They could also just be assholes who think they are being funny. Either way, I am mostly doing this for my own edification, to record some small part of what is happening in a way that I know something about, by analyzing raw intelligence. If it helps out, I’m glad for that too.

Visit http://ratlist.tumblr.com for updates.

I hope this is in a textbook my children read:

“People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” – President Bill Clinton

Mr. Mabuisi, the 80-year-old voter who has lived through it all, said he voted for Mr. Bemba because he was worried about what would happen if Mr. Bemba lost.

“This is democracy,” he said, as he slipped his precious voting card in his pocket and walked away.

Things were looking up today – the Red Sox moved to a record of 5-1, solidifying their perch atop the AL East, with Papi launching one and Papelbon and Beckett having great pitching turns in the home opener at that lovely cathedral of baseball on Yawkee Way. If you can’t tell, I’m feeling a little nostalgic for Boston.

The good day, however, was not to last. I noticed that Barbara Ann Radnofsky, our presumptive candidate for US Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchison, only got sixty percent of the vote in today’s runoff. She was running against Gene Kelly, an 80-year-old guy from San Antonio who makes no campaign appearances and accepts no political contributions. He has actually procured the nomination in previous cycles on nothing more than name recognition.

I saw that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has taken a cue from American politicians in the presentation department. I can’t dig up a picture of it, but he was in front of a banner that said “Nuclear Power is the right of all Iranian citizens” or something like that. He’s learning! He also told Christian Amanpour that the people that she interviewed earlier in the day that would really like the Iranian government to invest in infrastructure so they can have jobs and food were “imaginary” and “mythical.”

Earlier in the day, I saw Rumsfeld tell the media that he can’t keep up with the “mythology that comes out of [the media].” This was during a press conference where Joint Chiefs Chairman General Pace was defending Rumsfeld against the calls of three former generals for Rumsfeld to resign.

Then I saw Ann Coulter tie herself in knots as she ran up against the new, fun internal argument among American conservatives – immigration. No one on the right knows if they should be traditionally pro-business and fall in love with Bush’s guest worker program or if they should be the newly-chic xenophobic type of Republican.

Ann just said “Stupid people will elect Democrats who will raise their taxes and surrender the war on terror.”

Let me tell you about the war on terror. I have come to the thinking that the existence of Israel prevents the Middle East from devolving into one giant sectarian battleground. If everyone in the Middle East got together and tried to destroy Israel, it would probably be a successful campaign, but it would require maximum X-Treme teamwork. And Israel would take a serious chunk of the collective asses on its way down.

So that happens, and then what? The Shi’a figure out they don’t like the Sunnis, and nobody likes the Wahabists or the House of Saud, and Hezbollah and al Qaeda and Hamas wouldn’t hang out long before they started fighting, and then you’ve got roughly 1/6th of the world’s population in open war with each other. The Palestinians, well, they would figure out that a great deal of Arabia isn’t all that interested in them.

I could be wrong, and its certainly possible, but I’m of the opinion today that, while Israel is irritating to the Arab nations of the Middle East, its more the idea of Israel that bothers them. Most Arab countries have deep-seated resentment of the US and the UK over all the colonization and how we just carved out a new country without really asking anyone. If I came downstairs and found a crackhead asleep on my couch, I’d be mad at the crackhead, but I would sure as hell want to know who let him in.

Not that Israel is a crackhead. I suppose if I found Jerry Seinfeld going through my fridge I would be similarly upset.

Ok. There’s always tomorrow to look forward to.

“We recommend that taxes shall be raised on olive exports and, further, Carthage must be destroyed.”

If you hadn’t guessed, Cato the Elder was the Roman Senate version of Sam Brownback – the first NeoConservative. More Spartan than Roman, he spent the first part of his life pursuing conquest for the Empire, quite unlike today’s hawks; the balance was spent in service to state, applying his strict moral judgment to everything from visiting Greek Ambassadors to how much money women should be allowed to accumulate, from state honors to how many guests could be at a party. He served in the Roman Army as an officer and tribune, fighting in the Second Punic War and at the battle of Thermopylae.

So, nearing the onset of the Third Punic War, again spurring Rome on to the offensive, Cato the Elder hauled his 80-year-old body on to the floor of the Senate and decreed: Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam – Moreover, I recommend that Carthage must be destroyed.

If this feels familiar, it should. The same old song is starting to play again, this time about Iran. I’ve talked about Iran many times here. Seymour Hersh is talking about Iran now because, apparently, Bush And Pals have been talking about Iran for some time.

The march for freedom continues and now the focus in the West Wing, whether you want to admit it or not, is regime change in Iran. I wasn’t sure if it would be Iran or Syria first, but I realize now that the distinction means little – Syria and Iran are teaming up to monkey wrench the works in Iraq, but Iran has a shot at getting the bomb and Syria doesn’t, or at least Syria doesn’t have an infrastructural shot at it. They are basically one and the same, governed by virulently anti-Western fundamentalists. Iran is calling the hand of the West and we, for good or ill, are gearing up to respond.

Israel bears mention, because Israel is going to catch something in all this. They have a habit of pre-emptively striking against anyone that looks at them funny. That’s fine, and within Israel’s purview. They are, after all, surrounded by countries that don’t like them very much, and many times have had to aggressively defend their own borders. This doesn’t mean that Israel is the Wayne Gretzky of the Middle East. They certainly get up to shenanigans all their own.

As a further bit of information, you should know that we’re borrowing an incredible amount of money from China and against our own currency’s futures, and an attack against Iran would raise China’s ire. China buys a lot of oil from Iran. Russia is also a big fan. If China were to call one portion of our debt to them, we would go bankrupt and default on international loans. Defaulting on a loan is one of the major earmarks of political instability within a country. It means bad things for a lot of people.

So that brings me to this: how have we come to be here? The answer, unfortunately, is that we let it happen. We have continually rolled over for our politicians and taken arrow after arrow despite being usually disposed of better sense. The list of problems for the current administration continues to grow, and by the time we’re done its going to make J. Edgar Hoover’s exploits at the FBI look like a cakewalk. You thought Nixon was bad? Or that Reagan was shameless?

The problem with zealots is that they don’t know there’s something wrong with them. When Bush feels like stopping Iran will be his legacy, and that no one other than him will have the courage to do it, well, ok. Guess why we’re drawing down troops in Iraq. Guess why Iran traded all of its international currency holdings for gold. Guess why the surveillance net gets larger in a country now mostly ruled by the paranoid. The drumbeat for war, for the stripping away of civil rights and privacy, is as loud as any have been since Roman times, but for some reason we the people don’t hear it, don’t understand it, or don’t care.

America is not a guarantee. There is no promise written anywhere stating that my kids will get the same America that I got, although it may be a little worse for wear. Our vulnerabilities to external economic forces are trumped only by the danger caused by what we’ve been up to lately. We are in trouble and things don’t seem to be getting better.

A few years ago, I started thinking that I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself. I am possessed of a hard-bitten patriotism and, in my own private way, I see a future for America with the potential to surpass any period in the history of our country. I see that potential, and for the last four years or so, I have watched as that potential has been mortgaged and disregarded. I have watched it happen, and I have complained and hollered and tried to point it out.

Now I’m scared and I’m angry because the hits keep on coming.

There is another Latin sentence which you should think about: Non semper erit aestas.

How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man. – Johnny Cash

Uh-oh. You need a subscription to read it, and if you’re too lazy, let me get you up ins: We are mad at Syria and our diplomats, particularly our Ambassador to Iraq, are angry at Syria. Sure, we were angry at them earlier this year for their occupation of Lebanon, but that worked out better than expected. What we’re really mad at now is what we’ve been saying for a while: Syria is aiding the insurgency in Iraq.

“Our patience is running out,” said the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad.

How ominous! Its almost as if we’re now openly discussing some sort of plan to go after other countries in the Middle East!

The smart money now is not on aggression against Syria. We don’t have the manpower or the resources to go after such an endeavor. This could be a rogue diplomat with his credentialed panties in a wad. But considering how thick we are into Iraq now, I somehow doubt such a hardline statement would come out of the diplomatic corps without some sort of okay from State.

Unless! Unless Iraq is planning on attacking Syria on its own! While totally implausible for at least a few years, that Iraq could mount any sort of military operation on its own, it still sort of makes you break out in a low-grade greasy sweat, doesn’t it?

Its cool though, I’m sure the civil war in Iraq will last way longer than Syria’s current regime.

By that, I in no way mean that things are bad. Don’t think it. If I’m not at the Democrat HQ surrounded by good people, I’m in German class, where we’ve become good friends during our own private war mit Deutschem. If I’m not in those places, I’m home spending well-deserved time with my wife.

Now that we’re all caught up, let’s talk about the world. Not one of my favorite subjects these days.

My friend Jason was a combat medic in the US Special Forces. He still has Top Top Secret clearance, so it was no surprise to him that he received a phone call from someone still in the uniform Thursday morning. His aquaintance had been on one of the trains.

“He got hit with one of the chairs, and he said people were blown all over the place,” Jason said.

“Never mind that,” I said. “Give me the numbers. You’re familiar with this sort of thing, and 2 dead, 70 wounded sounds low.”

“You can expect a lot more. It won’t be pretty.”

It turned out to be a lot more. The Radio Funhogs suggested that now terrorists are bad at their jobs because this attack was “unsuccessful” and that also now is the time to buy stocks. The selling of the world picks up when things explode.

So China bails us out on a regular basis with RedBucks and the War On Terror’s failures are being trumpted as the obviation of our need for George Bush. The pundits say that 4 simultaneous bombings of our closest ally is a failure and that the War On Terror is working. Sandra Day O’Connor retires instead of (or perhaps along with, but at least before) Rehnquist, and my brother-in-law joins the Navy because not many other options in the world we’ve inherited look appealing.

I spent some more time with my Uncles, and they had more good natured ribbing. “What would Democrats do on Defense, Josh?” they ask.

I say “We would sure as shit have the good sense to take care of our soldiers when they come home. We wouldn’t cut veteran’s benefits. We’d make sure our soldiers have the tools they need to do the job.” The words fell out of my mouth and I realized I was reciting talking points. These are things I believe my party would do, but I sounded like a flak and it got my goat.

“But never mind that,” I said. “Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and Harry Truman were all filthy liberals, as your favorite guys like to call us. Harry Truman was a liberal, and he dropped the A-Bomb. Republicans can’t even make sure these guys have health insurance when they get sent home a leg lighter. How is that hard on defense?”

My words had become hard and my eyes flinty. My heart was full of ire and I hated more than ever that what is happening to my country is out of my control. I love these guys and I felt sorry for them, like they’d been ultimately mislead. None of us know anything but what the media tells us, so how am I any better than the guy with the W sticker on his car who thinks a little human rights abuse during freedom’s march is the cost of doing business?

A few days later I found myself in the company of another Deutschfreunden, a guy I call Metal Mike. We were having a cup of coffee outside the Jupiter House at 1 am and talking the hard talk of men who understand politics and can no longer dream big because the reasonable die lonely political deaths in the back alleys of idealism. Two guys sat next to us and played songs on their guitars.

Another patron of the Jupiter House turned to us after Metal Mike explained why he usually voted Republican but thought they were getting a little out of hand. The new guy said “You know, sometimes I wish Democrats would just come out and say that abortion is wrong but choice is important, or offer a plan about foreign policy. I couldn’t vote for Kerry because, while I knew Bush was bad, I didn’t have any idea how Kerry would be or what he would do. I did not vote”

I said “Never mind that. Gary Hart once told Hunter S. Thompson that part of the Democratic Party’s problem was that it ‘doesn’t have any policies. It doesn’t have any direction. People know that. They’d rather go with a Republican they know than a Democrat, a devil they don’t know.’”

This was in 1987. If it sounds familiar, well, there’s a reason for that. Later on in the conversation, Hunter told Hart that “we can’t afford another four years of these Half-Bright Rich Boys in the White House. Its time to win. We must maintain the bloodlines.”

This is a good point, and a true story. Its time to win, and to win will require the dirty work of a thousand guys like me in the back-water back-alleys of politics. It won’t happen in the smoke-filled room. There are no magic bullets and there are no quick fixes – every solution to one problem opens the door on another, bigger problem with a flat head and a mean mouth.

If we ever get to foreign policy, the clean, ill-lighted room will have gotten very large indeed.