Humorless Politics Thread

[wwwes]

I read that story a long time ago, actually. It's an awful situation. It's a humanitarian disaster and an extreme example of the limits of our current system for putting money where it is most needed. It is also indicative of a political atmosphere where saying you want to give millions more to the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be mocked as wasteful spending because it isn't one of the roughly half-dozen things Republicans think you are "allowed" to spend money on.

But this is what genocide means: "The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group." And this ain't that.

[fonpr]

This thread is "living" up to its name.

[buffcoat]

I would suggest we "stop," unless anyone has anything "new" to "say."

[wwwes]

Somewhat more positive news from Iran. Democracy is not lying down. Twitter is the only news source with anything to learn about it. Which is just... insane. What happens now, Shaq gets a Pulitzer?

[Matt]

Somewhat more positive news from Iran. Democracy is not lying down. Twitter is the only news source with anything to learn about it. Which is just... insane. What happens now, Shaq gets a Pulitzer?

So I finally get my wardrobe schedule for the month all straightened out, and we're suddenly supposed to wear green tomorrow? No dice, Iran. No dice.

[orator]

 It's weird and sad that I've been getting updates about the Iranian riots and election from Twitter last night and this morning instead of from the US media because of how shit it is. Instead, every time I checked CNN or MSNBC there would be Sarah Palin or some bullshit about Bono's relative getting a sex-change.

 And it's not really a testament to how great Twitter is, it was just the only thing that the Iranian government was having trouble blocking.

here are some pics from the riots:

http://twitpic.com/photos/madyar

don't look if you're squeamish with blood and a possible dead student

it's turning more and more violent



 One thing that restores a bit of my faith in humanity was the two instances I've seen of rioters catching a policeman, him being beaten by some with rocks or whatever, and then other rioters shielding the policemen with their own bodies and taking them to safety.

[buffcoat]

Bono has never been the same since he ran into that tree.

[dave from knoxville]

It's weird and sad that I've been getting updates about the Iranian riots and election from Twitter last night and this morning instead of from the US media because of how shit it is. Instead, every time I checked CNN or MSNBC there would be Sarah Palin or some bullshit about Bono's relative getting a sex-change.

 And it's not really a testament to how great Twitter is, it was just the only thing that the Iranian government was having trouble blocking.

here are some pics from the riots:

http://twitpic.com/photos/madyar

don't look if you're squeamish with blood and a possible dead student

it's turning more and more violent



 One thing that restores a bit of my faith in humanity was the two instances I've seen of rioters catching a policeman, him being beaten by some with rocks or whatever, and then other rioters shielding the policemen with their own bodies and taking them to safety.

Where they are hung by their achilles tendons from acid-soaked electrified meat hooks.

[orator]

lol

or something

[wwwes]

Reports of police riding around on motorcycles and beating people with chains. Tom should have stopped the Gorch when he had the chance.

On a less humorous note, I would be greatly appreciative of our President if he were at least to wear a green tie tomorrow. Or if he thinks he can't, maybe Michelle could do it for him. Frankly, both branches of government should be dressed like leprechauns tomorrow.

[Fido]

Reports of police riding around on motorcycles and beating people with chains. Tom should have stopped the Gorch when he had the chance.

On a less humorous note, I would be greatly appreciative of our President if he were at least to wear a green tie tomorrow. Or if he thinks he can't, maybe Michelle could do it for him. Frankly, both branches of government should be dressed like leprechauns tomorrow.

Humor has no place in this thread, citizen.

[wwwes]

<blockquote>And it's not really a testament to how great Twitter is, it was just the only thing that the Iranian government was having trouble blocking.</blockquote>
Actually, that IS a testament to how great Twitter is. The reason they cannot block it is because it is open for use by just about any hardware and any software. There are literally infinite ways one can update their account because all you have to send is 140 characters of text, so any past, present or future technologies that can access a data connection in any way could get a version of a Tweet system. Even the BBS system that existed before the world wide web could handle a site like Twitter.

[orator]

actually, the government finally succeeded in blocking twitter during that night

the ones who had used it up till then found glacial slow proxies and used tor servers

 After thinking about it, though, you're right. I was getting my hatred of how 99.999999% of people use Twitter in the way of just looking at it like a tool.


edit: also, the rally is inspiring:



 Is that a prosthetic leg crowd surfing in the center right of the pic?

 and people gathering

[orator]

better pic of it:

http://twitpic.com/7h3r5/full

 a BBC reporter supposedly said it's in the millions instead of thousands

[orator]

and CNN just showed a picture of a dead protester who was shot in the head

christ