Wolfgang Thanks for that posting about Benford's law. I had heard about that over the radio but I hadn't read it. It does suggest to me that if we believe the old saw:

Figures Don't Lie, but Liars Can Figure

we can only expect future vote rigging to be more sophisticated.

I am thinking that we have witnessed dangerous stupidity, or else, as is very likely, there are a lot of internal facts we are not yet aware of: primarilly, on one level the Iranian officials very stupidly gave themselves away because they simply had not patience for putting up a front of due process: They rushed the election results into the mediasphere before voting was done in all time zones, they put out a patently unbelievable set of voting figures.

But the chief stupidity is: They didn't have to do any of it. Ahmadinejad is not the main power, he is mostly a front for the religious clerics who get to call the real shots in the Iranian system. And most importantly, Moussavei is no gladsome liberal in favor of major reform. He is an experienced Iranian pol with job experience and more than a few bodies behind his resume. What was in Iran's interest was a democratic succession, a display within the country and for all the world that the people had a voice and were behind their government. By their own foolishness they have lost this.

And, Obama's policy of 'less is more' is perfect to these events. He is not drawing attention from the self-exposure of the Iranian government, despite being invited to do so by McCain and some of the leading Republicans, (and Joe Lieberman).

This ain't over.