You Could Learn A Lot...
From a supposedly backwoods part of the world!
I gotta offer up one of my patented Cynical Bombast Fight the Power Fist Pumps® to all those on the streets of Tehran, protesting the "landslide victory" of Ahmadina-whasshisname.
For those of you have haven't seen the "let me see your throng tha-throng throngs" of people demonstrating in the streets of Tehran this week, Iran held an election. Now, we have to understand that in a country like Iran, they don't have Diebold machines that mechanically count the votes in favor of Republicans. These are paper ballots that are hand-counted. So, after the polls closed, preliminary figures looked like the reform candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi would win. A short hour later, it was announced that the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won by a landslide. Talk about old school C & C Music Factory's "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm..." That many paper ballots were counted that fast and suddenly the incumbent won? Yeah, it doesn't take Nancy Drew to smell a rat.
So, after all the announcement, despite warnings from the government that any protest was not sanctioned and was therefore prohibited, the capital city of Iran has been for all intents and purposes shut down by protesters outside, pumping fists, demanding justice.
I don't want to get into all the nuances of the election. I don't want to talk about how the "reform" candidate Moussavi also thinks Israel doesn't need to be a state, that Iran should continue pursuing its nuclear program, or that the fatwa against Salman Rushdie was justified.
All I know is this: the election was clearly stolen, and Iran supposedly elected the biggest dickwad since Dick Cheney into office once more. Or so they say.
Despite what some think about Iran, it is populated by a majority of people around or under the age of 30, people who want to separate church and state, people who want women to choose whether or not they have to be seen in public in bee-keepers' suits, people who do not want to see the U.S. and all its freedoms go up in flames of a violent terrorist attack.
And those people care so much that they braved the attacks of tear gas, machine guns, and the threat of death to protest in the streets.
What I want to know is simple: why aren't we the same way? Why in 2000 when MadKingGeorge so obviously stole the election did we just accept what we were told and make him the prezzie? Why in 2004 when the voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida were reported did we not march in the streets?
Well, we know this much: the next time the Republicans steal an election, we have a model. We've seen the youth of Iran model to us the indignation we should feel when a political dynasty wants to rob us of our privilege to vote. We all have to take off from work, storm D.C., and demand our voices be heard.
Of course, first we have to get that much of America to actually care what happens to her. That alone will be a stretch.
I gotta offer up one of my patented Cynical Bombast Fight the Power Fist Pumps® to all those on the streets of Tehran, protesting the "landslide victory" of Ahmadina-whasshisname.
For those of you have haven't seen the "let me see your throng tha-throng throngs" of people demonstrating in the streets of Tehran this week, Iran held an election. Now, we have to understand that in a country like Iran, they don't have Diebold machines that mechanically count the votes in favor of Republicans. These are paper ballots that are hand-counted. So, after the polls closed, preliminary figures looked like the reform candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi would win. A short hour later, it was announced that the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won by a landslide. Talk about old school C & C Music Factory's "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm..." That many paper ballots were counted that fast and suddenly the incumbent won? Yeah, it doesn't take Nancy Drew to smell a rat.
So, after all the announcement, despite warnings from the government that any protest was not sanctioned and was therefore prohibited, the capital city of Iran has been for all intents and purposes shut down by protesters outside, pumping fists, demanding justice.
I don't want to get into all the nuances of the election. I don't want to talk about how the "reform" candidate Moussavi also thinks Israel doesn't need to be a state, that Iran should continue pursuing its nuclear program, or that the fatwa against Salman Rushdie was justified.
All I know is this: the election was clearly stolen, and Iran supposedly elected the biggest dickwad since Dick Cheney into office once more. Or so they say.
Despite what some think about Iran, it is populated by a majority of people around or under the age of 30, people who want to separate church and state, people who want women to choose whether or not they have to be seen in public in bee-keepers' suits, people who do not want to see the U.S. and all its freedoms go up in flames of a violent terrorist attack.
And those people care so much that they braved the attacks of tear gas, machine guns, and the threat of death to protest in the streets.
What I want to know is simple: why aren't we the same way? Why in 2000 when MadKingGeorge so obviously stole the election did we just accept what we were told and make him the prezzie? Why in 2004 when the voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida were reported did we not march in the streets?
Well, we know this much: the next time the Republicans steal an election, we have a model. We've seen the youth of Iran model to us the indignation we should feel when a political dynasty wants to rob us of our privilege to vote. We all have to take off from work, storm D.C., and demand our voices be heard.
Of course, first we have to get that much of America to actually care what happens to her. That alone will be a stretch.