“Of course it will get bloody. Iran has no buffering institution like the Egyptian army to mediate. I predict this wave of protests will die soon, but the regime over there is doomed one way or another. I think it will take several more years for it to fall, though. Would like to be wrong on this. Nor should we expect them to rush quickly into our arms should their government be overthrown. We are not trusted in Iran.”

“... the notion that a mirror image of American-style democracy will be the law of the land is both naive and shallow. Like it or not, the Mideast has a large electorate that sees religion as a fundamental part of any government. Short of full-scale invasion, I can’t see what conservatives would have the president do.”

“Just had Charles Perry tell us at a town hall meeting in November Duncan had a better understanding of school finance than anyone he knew of ... What he understands is how much money there is to be taken. In a nutshell, they see the pool of money that is being raised via school taxes, and convince themselves they can do a better job of running schools than the local school board can. They will not look at how inept the job they are currently doing in the state’s current redistribution system. There are schools still waiting on payments from the state from 2008 ... Get involved. This does not need to happen.”

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