Iran

[Trigger warning.]

Today is the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the occasion of his anniversary address to announce that Iran is now a nuclear state: "Ahmadinejad asserted Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of higher-grade enriched uranium and declared that his country is now a 'nuclear state,' although he continued to deny that Iran has any intention of building nuclear weapons."

White House Spokesperson Robert Gibbs responded: "Iran has made a series of statements that are based on politics, not on physics."

Meanwhile: "Hundreds of thousands of pro-government Iranians have been rallying to mark the 31st anniversary of Iran's revolution. ... The opposition has been trying to stage counter-demonstrations, but faced a big security crackdown, and several of its leaders have reportedly been attacked."

CNN:

Militia members also beat the wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi with batons, according to postings on the social networking Web site Facebook and opposition Web sites.

The forces were preventing opposition leaders and their followers -- the so-called Green Movement -- from reaching Azadi Square (Freedom Square) in central Tehran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered an anniversary address extolling the country's nuclear program to supporters. They fired on crowds in some areas and pepper-sprayed demonstrators in others, opposition groups said.

CNN has not been able to independently confirm opposition reports.

And because strife in Iran just wouldn't be complete with posturing in the US Congress, Senators Lieberman and McCain have introduced a bill to single out "individuals for sanctions instead of whole governments."

"This would authorize the president to deny visas and freeze economic assets for people in Iran who are responsible for the kind of brutality that we're seeing on these videos," Lieberman said during an appearance on MSNBC.

...Lieberman said that the sanctions being proposed would have the benefit of not having to go through the United Nations Security Council, where China has been reluctant to go along with tougher rules for Iran.

It's a rare day indeed that I look at proposed legislation ostensibly designed to combat human rights abuses and respond with "LOLWTF FAIL."