Jun
29
On June 19th, Obama was at the 65th Annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner. While there, this animation was unveiled and played. It's quite funny, enjoy.
Jun
23
If you haven't heard by now, there's a bit of news occurring in Iran right now. The Iranian people, or at least some of them, are protesting against the recent election. As a result, there has been a bit of violence in Iran, including a number of deaths such as that of Neda Soltan. The video below, though disturbing, shows Neda's final moments.
Neda has become something of an unofficial martyr for the cause. The video of her final moments has been shown around the world on news shows, computers, and sent from phone to phone. Her death has become a rallying cry as protesters gather and try to fight what they call a dictatorship. Her death has come to be a thorn in the side of the Iranian government as they try to stop family members from putting up mourning posters.
Here in the US, there has been an outcry from the conservative side of the fence. They criticize Obama's current stance on Iran, which seems to be "wait and see." They seem to want the US to get involved with what's going on in Iran, possibly invading, but at the very least, stating that we stand behind the protestors.
Obama has, to date, stood his ground. As the case of Neda has proven, there are human rights issues at stake. However, as history has proven, getting involved may prove detrimental in the end. Before the Iranian revolution, the US enjoyed good relations with Iran. However, the revolution of 1979 resulted in the pro-American shah to be ejected. Since that time, Iran has been distrustful of the US. The Bush administration didn't help much, marking Iran as part of the so-called "Axis of Evil."
By standing aside and letting events run their course, Obama allows the people of Iran to decide what will happen. This is an internal issue for the people of Iran, but make no mistake, it will affect world relations. But, if the US, Britain, or some other country forces their way in, without the consent of the Iranian population, it will sour any possible hope for good relations. The Iranian people need to do this on their own. They need to achieve their own freedom, in their own way.
All that said, please support those in Iran. We fought our own revolution, long ago, and we are a stronger nation for it. Now it's Iran's turn.
Jun
16
Today saw more violence and protesting across Iran. Reports pour in from various sources about more arrests, beatings, and deaths. Watching the twitter posts fly by is incredible. If you are at all interested in this, I urge you to check out Twitter and follow some of the folks I mentioned in my previous post.
From what I'm able to put together thus far, it sounds like the opposition leader, Mir Hossein Moussavi, has been a huge favorite in Iran. Polls done by CNN and others indicated that Moussavi seemed to have greater support than the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to a recent tweet by Raymond Jahan, the opposition leader had actually won, but the results were modified.
"CONFIRMED again: Mousavi got call election night, was told he won, next day they switch results 2 Ahmadi's favor #gr88"
There are also rumors, likely true, that government workers were ordered to vote for Ahmadinejad or risk losing their jobs, imprisonment, etc. As was seen in Russia and other areas in the past, this is a great motivator and often results in the oppressive government remaining in power.
My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones in Iran and I hope they are able to bring some sort of peaceful end to this. Ultimately, though, my gut tells me that if the people in Iran truly want peace and freedom, there's a long, bloody revolution ahead.
Jun
15
There is some pretty insane shit happening in the middle east right now. Iran held elections for president on Friday, claiming a democratic process. As it turns out, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election. There has been a general outcry of disbelief and many claims of vote tampering. There are reports of rioting, demonstrating, and many reports of abuse, including shots at one demonstration. It seems, however, that there is also a lot of censorship going on as the Iranian government strives to put down the riots and demonstrations while downplaying the whole event to the rest of the world.
Twitter and the internet at large seems to be playing a big part in this, however, as various people in Iran use whatever means possible to get the news out. Twitter in particular is being used to pass around open proxies, usable by those in Iran to get unfiltered access to the Internet at large. Other users are using Twitter as a means to report on the current happenings inside of Iran. Two users I've come across are Change For Iran and persiankiwi. Of the two, persiankiwi seems to be the one most up to date at the moment. Change for Iran mentioned going to a rally a few hours ago and that there was a danger in doing so. They have yet to update since then, so I'm a bit concerned about their safety.
From the reports I've been hearing, it seems that most of the violence is due to the government forces in the street trying to stop the demonstrations. I'm sure there's rioting as well, which should be brought to an end, but peaceful demonstrations are being broken up by police in riot gear tossing tear gas and beating citizens with batons. In some situations, the demonstrators are fighting back, in others they are trying to stop the fighting peacefully. Overall, it seems to be a bad situation and I hope some sense of sanity can be restored soon.
For more pictures of the what's going on, check out The Big Picture.
Jun
5
Here we go again... The associated press is reporting that a US Airways employee helped a passenger, who was apparently his friend, smuggle an unloaded handgun onto a plane. You can go read one of the articles yourself, but it basically boils down to this. The passenger was moving and asked his friend about transporting his handgun. His buddy, who was a TSA employee, apparently decided it was easier to just carry the bag through the employee entrance, rather than have it screened or checked. Before boarding, the TSA employee gives the bag back, is spotted by a watchful passenger, reported, and all hell breaks loose. They tear apart the plane, find the gun, and find a missed boxcutter in the process too..
So, stupid decisions by both, but it brings to light, again, the fact that security at the airport is nothing but a show put on by the powers that be to make it look like we're safe. In reality, though, the only thing that this insanity provides is headaches.
I wonder if people realize how incredibly easy it is to smuggle things onto planes. Let's look at liquids, since liquid explosives are apparently so easy to mix on a plane. Bruce Schneier posted a story about a lady who decided to test the TSA by going through security with the ingredients to make homemade gunpowder. She clearly labeled all of the ingredients, printed up a fake boarding pass, and waltzed through security. They scanned her fake boarding pass with no problem. She was questioned about the bamboo reeds she had in her carry on luggage. However, after inspecting them, and even running what was apparently an explosives test, she was allowed to pass through security. How's that for secure? They TESTED for explosives, yet found none.
Here's another, marginally less exciting, but concerning nonetheless. A gentlemen buys some salad dressing for his wife, puts it in his luggage and forgets it's there. At security, he goes through the motions and the dressing is found. After talking to the TSA employee he finds out that they have to discard the dressing, but is told exactly where they'll be throwing it. After they throw it away, he wanders over to the garbage can, in full view, grabs it back, and flies it home to his wife. All in front of the TSA.
So tell me, is this security? How about we deal with the terrorists before they get to the airport. If they've made it far enough to get into the airport, we're already too late.
