READER DOUG HEINZ SENDS THIS REPORT from the San Francisco protest in support of Iranian Democracy:

I’m a 9-year resident in San Francisco and there have only been three times where I’ve personally seen a protest that wasn’t giant temper tantrum against the United States in support of some tyrannical oppresser for the sake of opposition. 1) The Cedar Revolution on the steps of City Hall, 2) the protest of the Olympic Torch in support of Tibet and 3) tonight in Union Square in support of the opposition in Iran.

Quick observations: The crowd was very large (a few thousand), peaceful, passionate and green. By mingling throughout the crowd, I learned that a large percentage of people in the crowd were of Iranian heritage or descent. Many came to the event after learning about it from Twitter (one girl organized her whole family after reading a few Tweets at work) and the age spectrum was well represented from end-to-end. People were holding up print-outs of many of the horrible images we’ve seen of the beaten, shot and wounded protesters in Tehran. The clear theme was unanimous support against the Islamic dictatorship and for democracy.

A couple of signs:

– “Americans in Support of Iranians”

– “Obama Please Support Mousavi”

– “NO to Dictatorship/NO to Theocracy — In Iran”

– “Obama Please help Iranian people NOT mullahs”

– “That was NOT an Election, That was a Selection”

Michael Petrelis has lots of photos, though his idea of a “protest babe” diverges from mine. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

SAME-SEX PARTNERS WILL GET FEDERAL BENEFITS: “President Barack Obama, under growing criticism for not seeking to end the ban on openly gay men and women in the military, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama plans to announce his decision on Wednesday in the Oval Office, a White House official said Tuesday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president hadn’t yet signed the presidential memorandum.”

HOPE AND CHANGE! SAME! Oops! President Obama confuses right, left. It’s like Bush never left! Er, right?

BBC: Iran opposition keeps up pressure.

Plus, more pictures from Iran.

(Via Virginia Postrel.)

WE DON’T DISCRIMINATE, they just don’t want to join our club.

MORE DOMA / DADT BLOWBACK: Gay figures pull out of Biden fundraiser. “Two prominent gay figures, activist David Mixner and widely read blogger Andy Towle, have pulled out of a Democratic National Committee fundraiser later this month amid growing calls to confront the administration at what was supposed to be its first large scale opportunity to bring in gay cash.”

A REPORT FROM TODAY’S ALBANY TEA PARTY:

ALBANY – There was no tea, but it was certainly a party at the Capitol’s steps with hundreds of protesters from around the state vocalizing the colonial stance of no taxation without representation.

The March on Albany Tea Party had four main issues taxpayers wanted to discuss including the execution of taxes, out of control spending, the intrusive government, and corrupt government officials, said event coordinator Wade Abbott.

The demonstration was planned weeks before the recent state Senate fiasco, but Abbott said they used that as an example of the corrupt politics in the state.

Good choice. More here. And here.

AN IRAN PROTEST in Houston.

A ROUNDUP OF news from Iran. “Protests do not seem to be slowing down or losing steam.”

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

FEELING THE HEAT? ‘Nervous’ Letterman Brushes Off Protesters.

More here. And still more — including video of protests — here.

UPDATE: Jim Treacher emails: “Those ‘Fire Letterman’ people should’ve listened to me about accepting his apology.” I think they’re into relentlessness. Maybe they’ve been reading Alinsky? But of course, Alinsky was from the days Before Treacher.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I dunno, this sounds like a PR triumph to me: Letterman Protest Draws More Media Than Activists. I mean, that’s the kind of thing that you usually see with ACORN protests. . . .

MORE: “Once again, we find that the best treatment for bad speech is more speech.”

THE WASHINGTON POST has put the Obama financial-regulation plan online. Shockingly, it’s something of a federal power-grab.

REP. JOHN CONYERS’ (D-MI) WIFE, Monica Conyers may be going to jail for corruption.

FOLLOWING JIM GERAGHTY’S ADVICE: Tea Party Crowd Shows Up To Send Message To Aaronson, County.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson stayed quiet today when asked to apologize for comments he made in May about the anti-government-spending Tea Party movement.

About 50 Tea Party supporters showed up at today’s County Commission meeting, speaking out against county spending and raising concerns about Aaronson.

Aaronson drew the ire of the Tea Party movement last month when he questioned why more of the group didn’t show up for a county discussion about national healthcare proposals.

Since then, Aaronson has been flooded with e-mail from Tea Party group members, taking him to task for his comments. Today, Tea Party supporters showed up wearing red, white and blue, some holding signs with messages such as “Give me liberty, don’t give me debt.”

“Here we are,” Jose Ruiz, part of the Tea Party crowd and a candidate for Congress, told Aaronson and the other commissioners.

Hey, in-your-face politics worked for Alinsky and his followers. It works especially well at the local level.

And here’s more: Ravalli Co. ‘Tea Party’ organizers deliver petitions.

A group of Ravalli County residents stopped at Senator Jon Tester’s and Max Baucus’ Missoula offices to drop off petitions on Monday. They’re asking the Senators to appear at a public forum in Ravalli County and explain their voting record.

Group members say they feel that the Senators and the Obama Administration are putting Democracy at risk by their fiscal irresponsibility. The group also says that the government is inhibiting freedom of speech and moving toward socialist government.

“The voters need to ask the senators questions, more than that we need answers. We’re very concerned with what’s going on” commented protest organizer James McKoy.

All politics is local, and 50 people doing this in a district is worth 500 marching on Washington.

APOLOGY, SCHMOPOLOGY: David Letterman “has pissed off the wrong lesbian.”

ABC NEWS: Key Obama Ally Says President Obama Did Not Follow the Law in IG Firing.

After being briefed today on President Obama’s firing last week of Gerald Walpin, Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the president did not abide by the same law that he co-sponsored – and she wrote – about firing Inspectors General.

“The White House has failed to follow the proper procedure in notifying Congress as to the removal of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service,” McCaskill said. “The legislation which was passed last year requires that the president give a reason for the removal.”

McCaskill, a key Obama ally, said that the president’s stated reason for the termination, “’Loss of confidence’ is not a sufficient reason.”

Stay tuned. Here’s more from Byron York, who’s been on top of this story.

THEY’RE rallying for Iranian democracy in San Francisco tonight.

UPDATE: Video: Iranian-Americans protest in Chicago.

DOES AHMADINEJAD HAVE “SWEET HIPSTER STYLE?” According to The Manolo, not even a little.

GREG SARGENT: Obama Faces A Second Major Test On Defense Of Marriage Act.

UPDATE: I’m guessing that John Ensign will be keeping a low profile on this one. . . .

“HATE CRIME” BILL: Gay rights and . . . concealed carry? “Meanwhile, the compromise option is being pushed by a pro-gun rights gay group in Washington, GOProud. The amendment to the hate-crimes bill would allow Americans with concealed-weapons permits to carry their guns across state lines. Congress ‘should pass legislation that will empower individuals to defend themselves before they become another hate crime victim,’ wrote GOProud board member Christopher Barron in a commentary.”

That’s nice, but I think the law should also allow the tarring and feathering of government officials who behave as Canada’s “Human Rights” Commissars have. Failing that, I’d rather it not pass.

TIM CAVANAUGH: Dickens is back. Watch your wallet. “If you want to understand the economy, don’t turn to the author of Oliver Twist for answers. . . . There are feudal elements in Dickensomics, a fondness for a universe where everything stays in its proper place. G.K. Chesterton shrewdly praised one of Dickens’ literary virtues that others might treat as a vice: that his characters by and large do not change in the course of the story. But what comes across most clearly is a journalist’s fake sophistication about money, a belief that the wealth just somehow exists and needs only to get to the right people (or be returned to them, sometimes after being retrieved from Jews and moneylenders). It’s a boom-time mentality, the kind of thing you can only believe when you are, as Dickens was, well into a period of massive wealth creation, so that you have come to take good fortune for granted. If that’s Dickens’ lesson for our Hard Times, somebody ought to call CNBC.”

FROM MICHAEL MOYNIHAN, another Iran roundup.

UPDATE: Ann Althouse: “Is Obama bland enough? Do you think he could be blander?”

PJTV: UPRISING IN IRAN.

“AHMADINEJAD HAS A PRETTY SWEET HIPSTER STYLE.”

GOOD. I HATE THOSE BASTARDS: Auto Warranty Robocall Scammers Busted.