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Iranian Government Cuts Off Internet Access Again
AlbionTourgee writes "It is reported that Gmail and Yahoo mail at least have been blocked in Iran, along with many English-language sites. While news of demonstrations seems to be getting out of the country, the government appears to be trying to prevent people within Iran from communicating and from learning what's happening. It remains to be seen whether TOR and Freenets can be effective to combat this sort of effort to block communications, and whether the general circulation of information about the protests around the world will help."
Um, we nuked Japan and it turned out okay. What's not to like?
Actually, a very good point. We here in the US know, for instance, that terrorists will never, *ever* nuke Washington D.C. The terrorists know that, at this point, the American people would probably end up being forever grateful and that getting rid of those 535 corrupt, self-serving, power-&-wealth-lusting people would only serve to make the US a better, saner, and stronger nation than it has been for at least the past 50-100 years.
I'd say that well over 90% of the problems in the US are the direct or indirect result of a too large and powerful federal government. Whenever national governments get large and powerful, systemic corruption *will* become a problem. No amount of lawmaking, oversight programs, or other regulatory power can change it, as it's part of basic human nature.
The "we just need better oversight" excuse you hear from those in government when they're caught in some embarrassing/dishonest behavior is disingenuous at best. We need a much smaller federal government and the powers that the federal government has usurped from the states and the people respectively need to be returned.
To minimize corruption and power-seeking, a central government must be weak and poor enough that it's simply not worth cheating the system, and gaining control over it clandestinely won't provide any significant power over the citizens themselves because most of the actual domestic governing is done more locally.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Hey Mr. Historian!
US and UK kill more people for the sake of imagination and ideology in a year, than Iran has done over centuries.
Iran hasn't committed a war of aggression in more that 200 years. There are more practicing Jews and Christians in Iran - protected by the state - than Afghanistan and Iraq combined, several times over.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
UN doesn't supply 3 Billion USD annually to Israel (60/40 Military Domestic).
US does. http://www.wrmea.com/html/usaidtoisrael0001.htm
California is in a financial crisis with 20% + unemployment, but "Sacred Israel" the war-crime, apartheid state will still get 3 Billion of your (and your children's) taxes.
Somehow, welfare for Israel is vital for the nations interests. Welfare for the nation's own people? Well they made their own bed, didn't they?
What kind of patriotism loves one's country in the abstract, yet cares little or nothing for its people? Do Americans just love the rocks and water, and words on paper?
Do they destroy their livelihoods, prosperity and future economic well-being to help a racist state kill the native population?
They appear to do just so.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
You want to ignore this part of the world? Get off IDF's back and let them do as they please to the Arab threat. But nobody likes the idea of letting the strong conquer the weak, no matter that we're right.
No, you're not right. That's the other reason why I don't support interference in that conflict. Neither side are right.
I've read the Old Testament. The Zionist/ethnocentric element of the Israeli population are every bit as much a group of self-righteous, genocidal megalomaniacs as you have been for your entire history.
Hitler is the only reason why Israel has any cause for feeling justified in its' paranoia, and that also doesn't wash with me. I am autistic; if I'd been alive during Nazi Germany, I would have died too. Hitler was killing us at the time via the gasvagens; go and look that up if you don't believe me.
I was also subjected to both physical and psychological abuse during my experience with the education system; I was nearly killed in my last place of residence on multiple occasions. If I had wanted to become self-righteous and develop a martyr complex, I too could have found justification for doing so.
Just so that you don't start thinking that I am an anti-Semite who is in fact not neutral, I will tell you that I don't think any more highly of the Palestinian side, either. Islam doesn't always have to be, but among a certain demographic of its' followers, that religion is an expansionist disease that makes the Borg look tame by comparison.
This conflict, and most of your religious extremism, in both groups, is primarily generated by old men. Most of the young people don't want it, and the few who do are generally those who have allowed their ears to be bent by the elderly.