Date: Monday August 24, 2009
Source: Etemaad
Link: http://www.etemaad.ir/Released/88-06-03/150.htm#156863

Only 20 out of 290 parliamentarians attended a meeting called by Ahmadinejad on Sunday. In discussions with Etemaad, one of the attendants of the meeting stated that the meeting ended positively with broad agreement on the issues raised by Ahmadinejad. This comes amidst criticism by parliamentarians of Ahmadinejad’s choice and method of choosing government ministers. In discussions with Etemaad about the reason for their absence, many absentees complained that Ahmadinejad had not heeded to their request for consultation on ministers.

دوستان ، نکته جالب در مراسم تنفیذ امروز این بود که بر خلاف رسم معمول در تنفیذ سابقش احمدی نژاد اینبار به جای دست ، بر شانه خامنه ای بوسه زد . در این مراسم که همه چیز حساب شده و در حکم پیامهای پنهان و ظریف  به دوستان و دشمنان و آنها که میدانند است ، به نظر شما چرا احمدی نژاد اینبار بر شانه خامنه ای بوسه زد و حتی آشکارا دست او را که برای بوسیدن به سویش دراز شده بود پس زد؟ مقصود چه بود ؟ از همه دوستان میخواهیم رمزگشایی کنند و در ذیل نظریات خود را بیان دارند تا به راز این نکته سر به مهر دست یابیم .

Ann Coulter, as always, seems to be in a race to re-write history in a way that is completely and utterly wrong and makes no sense at all. The other say on Hannity’s show, she said:

“George Bush helps the Iranians. They saw fellow Muslims living in freedom and democracy in Iraq, and that’s what inspired this.”

Now let’s take a look at this. Because Ann Coulter has made a career out of being just plain wrong (and crazy). 

Here’s some of the reasons for the protests:

• Obviously, the outcome (many irregularities were found in the voting) — From the Tehran Bureau, “They’re protesting because the government thought it could make fools of them. All this was a play, it was a movie. It wasn’t real. It was a charade. People are hopeless and depressed because they were played with, not because Mousavi lost.”
• Frustration over the worsening economy and unemployment, despite high oil revenues.
• The “Marriage Crisis” — tied into the economy, basically “It refers to the rising number of young people of marrying age who cannot afford to marry or are choosing not to tie the knot.” It was another factor that served to alienate Iran’s young population from the government. 
• Anger at Ahmadinejad’s poor global image and the poor image of Iran as a “terrorist nation”

See any jealousy over Iraq’s “democracy” over there? I sure don’t. Maybe that was too complicated for Ann, and she had to simplify it so as to fit her warped world view.

Also, directly opposing Coulter’s whacked out theory that George Bush is to thank for all the protests in Iran is the opinion of Iranians. Here’s one (from an article entitled “I speak for Mousavi. And Iran.” nonetheless!):

“Now the Americans have Obama and we have our version of Bush. We need an Obama who can find solutions for Iran’s problems.”

I’ll go with Mohsen Makhmalbaf (the author of that article) over Ann Coulter any day.

Coulter also said:

“Curiously, this idea that the protesters would suddenly decide ‘oh no we’re going to stop protesting’ if Obama put in a kind word for them”.

Well that’s just wrong. No one is saying that. So this “idea” she is talking about is all hers, and not one anyone is giving any credence to (other than her, apparently). What people are actually saying (correctly, I might add), is that any policy statements from the US Government towards Iran will be utilized by the Iranian government to as propaganda to fight the protesters by saying: “Look, foreign forces like the US are inciting this rebellion”. Not only is it true, but it’s already started happening with the Iranian government blaming the CIA and the US and other foreign media. 

On the media point, it should be noted that in Iran, media is government run, so there may be the perception in Iran that by the US media running stories about the Iranian protests, it is actually the US government functioning through the media.

Can we get people who actually know what they’re talking about on TV in the USA?

Times

James Hider in Jerusalem

America’s spy chief was sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the US Administration.

As Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged yesterday that Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Mr Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, that their hawkish new Government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington.

Concerns have been rising that Mr Netanyahu could launch a strike on Tehran’s atomic programme, in the same way that Israel hit Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in 1981. Israel has been preparing for such an eventuality. It has carried out long-distance manoeuvres and is due to hold its largest civil defence drills this summer. The country’s leaders reportedly told Mr Panetta that they did not “intend to surprise the US on Iran”.

Mr Netanyahu will leave for Washington this weekend. He will meet Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, and Mr Obama, whom he will try to convince of the need for tougher action against Iran. Mr Obama favours trying to engage Tehran, but his efforts have been received coolly by President Ahmadinejad.

The Israeli leader is expected to insist that the US stays focused on Iran, rather than tackling stalled talks with the Palestinians.

Mr Netanyahu has held meetings with Arab leaders this week, including President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan. Both Sunni leaders share Israel’s fears of a resurgent Shia Iran.

In Aqaba, Jordan, yesterday King Abdullah told Mr Netanyahu there could be no regional peace without a Palestinian state. So far Mr Netanyahu has refused to commit to a two-state solution. Instead, he has talked about developing the Palestinian economy, with Palestinians having only limited sovereignty. That view is likely to cause confrontation with Mr Obama.

Mr Netanyahu raised the issue of Iran during a private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Nazareth yesterday. “I asked him as a moral figure to make his voice heard loud and continuously against the declarations coming from Iran of their intention to destroy Israel,” he said. .

“I think we found in him an attentive ear.” The Pope, who reiterated his calls for peace yesterday, did not give an account of the meeting.

What kind of POS is that?

P.O.S. is an interesting acronym. If you are a healthcare provider it can mean “Physician Office Services” for the codes they enter on your chart or “Point Of Service” to mean the plan type where you use a primary physician of your choice . A teenager texting their friends may type POS for “Parent Over Shoulder” to let them know to be discrete. If you are in data center operations or architecture you know it as “Primary Operating System”. I believe many of us are aware of the most widely used form, usually to describe a *&%$/”^ malfunctioning appliance or car. In the retail world it stands for “Point of Sale.”

I recently attended the AHMA Hardlines Technology forum in Memphis. There were the usual discussions of PIM, GS1 and Data Synch but one of the more interesting sessions for me was the untapped uses for POS data. Retailers collect POS data from their registers and shopping cart checkout software and usually analyze it for average weekly sales, replenishment levels, promotion success and sometimes provided it to key suppliers for their planning purposes.

POS data can be intimidating. First it’s huge; there can be gigabytes of data to sort through. Next, it needs to be cleansed to eliminate the “noise” so you can find what is really hiding in there. Extremes such as one-time huge sales, returns and non-sale events need to be removed plus the data needs to be normalized for analysis across territories and suppliers. Many organization have tried to push the data through Business Intelligence tools or put it into Data Warehouse cubes with marginal success. Many argue that POS data aged beyond a week is of little value.

POS data can provide great insight into your customers and their demand but you have to know what to look for. Beyond replenishment and category management POS can provide geographic/store analysis of items, “Out of balance” store transfer opportunities, shipment rates/velocities tracking, real-time out-of stock alerts, rate of sales, benchmark for on-hand balance thresholds, sales velocity tracking, and input assortment planning. If the POS data is supplemented with other data such as supplier inventory levels and en-route shipping information you have real supply chain visibility. Look for me to invest time into real-time POS solutions for our customers. Let me know what you are using POS data for and what you would like to use it for.
Randy