StiflyStiferson

Heartbreak

Though it has been somewhat lost to our generation, as some distant relic of the past, humans are today, as they have ever been, caught in a struggle between classes of people. Such tumult is the inspiration of vicious cultural supremacy and nowhere is it as insipid as between the superrich and the struggling people of the world.

The equality and individual empowerment that makes democracy the purest political system, is marginalized in the vastness of the American condition. Even more defeating to democratic ideals is how obscene amounts of wealth can so utterly overshadow the generally good-natured instincts of the people.

Recently, the corporate instruments of unconscionable economic stratification have been granted new and indecent power over our political system. Already advantaged with control over mainstream media and unmatched governmental influence, corporate dollars now have legal sanction to engulf the political process as never before, leaving the voice of the people lost in a current of political manipulations undoubtedly to favor the narrow, hoarding interests of insatiable economic gain.

Sung and re-sung are the lullabies that put to rest discontent for the callous externalities of greed, with ideas of the American dream. It is a spell of nightingale syndrome which deceives the well intentioned into believing it is purely honest work, and not the disease of corruption, which leads to “success”. It is a spell that foments blindness and submission to an economic pyramid scheme where the usurious and supremacist economic elite maintain control at the expense of the tired masses.

Optimism After Heartbreak.

Despite concerted efforts to mollify economic unrest–despite efforts to direct popular culture and conventional wisdom away from populist inclinations—despite near monolithic control by the economic elite’s uniquely cold outlook—we are deeply fortunate. We have this moment.

Even with so much of the game rigged—we are not without means to change. We are privileged to live in an age where the openness of technology gives legitimacy to hope. Technology provides an incredibly powerful vehicle for the free exchange of ideas—ideas that are untempered by corrupting centralized authority. It is this, more than anything else that has breathed new life into democracy.

And still, there are no easy answers…

Problems with no clear solutions are unique in their ability to entangle the soul with sullen myopia. Our fiery passion to fight the good fight is quickly doused by complications. I am left sure only that peace and human dignity are the objectives. We’ll start there.

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Good review of the NPT and Iran’s specific responsibilities under it. Discusses the hypocrisy of Israels nuclear criticisms and Obama’s overreaching statements with regard to Iran’s domestic nuclear program.

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Technorati Tags: homosexuality, homosexuals, gay marriage, slavery

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Intro

With the Iranian election results disputed (a dispute that the incumbent will likely win), I think it’s important to revisit the American conventional wisdom about the Iran and its president. Suspicious sources and a lazy media echo-chamber have instilled many misconceptions into the American public’s mind about Iran. This is worrisome because such misconceptions leave the American public vulnerable for the type of hawkish manipulations that led us into the Iraq war, and so for that reason US attitudes towards Iran need reexamining.

Nuclear Weapons Program

Top among the controversies surrounding Iran is the issue of their nuclear development. One goal of Iran’s energy policy is to use nuclear energy for domestic energy needs so that more of Iran’s oil supplies can be diverted for foreign sale.

In developing their domestic nuclear energy program Iran has often skirted certain IAEA regulations, with the ostensible reason being that strict adherence to the rules has allowed the US to sabotage nuclear development contracts forged between Iran and other countries. This evasion of IAEA directives has been the primary basis on which Iran has been accused of having a nuclear weapons program.

However, in 2007, part of a United States National Intelligence Estimate was leaked that concluded that Iran had not worked on a nuclear weapons program since 1993. Ironically, Iran’s first nuclear weapons programs was facilitated by America in the 1950s.

“Vanish from the page of time” vs. “wiped from the map”

Since he was elected in 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has received much criticism on his comments regarding Israel. The most famous of these was given in a speech called “A World Without Zionism” in which he quoted a line from Ayatollah Khomeini.

An improper English translation painted him as calling for Israel to be “wiped from the map.” When word got out there was an international uproar. As it happens, in Persian there is no such idiom. More accurate translations read “The Imam said that this regime occupying Jerusalem must [vanish from] the page of time.”

The focus of the speech was a hopeful vision of a world free from Western oppression of Muslims, and, in context, it is clear that this is not policy—much less a military threat. In fact, Iran has never made a military threat against Israel. Israel has against Iran, though—many, many times.

Holocaust Denial

Ahmadinejad has also met sharp international criticism over his comments on the Holocaust. The widespread and misleading allegation is that he denies that the Holocaust ever occurred.

It is undoubtedly true that Ahmadinejad has raised some uncomfortable questions about the Holocaust. Indeed, in December 2006, he even convened a conference to explore historical evidence for the Holocaust, and he also occasionally referred to people making “a myth” of the Holocaust.

However, as Iran Specialist Professor Shiraz Dossa states, while Ahmadinejad’s “rhetoric has been excessive and provocative,” he“has not denied the Holocaust or proposed Israel’s liquidation. What Ahmadinejad has questioned is the mythologizing, the sacralization, of the Holocaust.”

Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory statements are all in the context of the Palestinian struggle. The questions are put in terms of skepticism towards the Holocaust’s use in justifying Zionist colonialism in Palestine. The intellectual exploration, undoubtedly born of a deep, sometimes justified, mistrust for the West, has never crossed the line into outright denial of the Holocaust.

When such statements have been conflated with anti-Semitism, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly clarified his position with statements like “creating an objection against the Zionists doesn’t mean that there are objections against the Jewish.”

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, the recent election dispute in Iran leaves one questioning the democratic scruples of the country’s leadership. Ahmadinejad’s Iran is far from the idyllic liberal democracy. But, however great the fervor for Ahmadinejad’s opponent, one need be careful not to lose sight of how unfairly Western caricatures of Iran have influenced attitudes toward the incumbent worldwide—a habit long in the making and likely slow to change.

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Google trends is an awesome tool. You can find out how much certain keywords are searched for over time.

The part of me that loves poop jokes decided to search naughty terms and analyze what regions are interested in various fetishes.

Czech Republic is far and away the worlds leader in deviant search results. They’re number one for bbw, anal fisting, fisting, bdsm, bondage, interracial porn, dildo, orgy.

What the fuck is goin on in the Czech Republic right?

I decided to look at trends for shock value sex sites memes like Meat Spin, hai2u, cakefarts, tubgirl, lemon party. Finland loves them. Every one of them has Finland as the number one searching nation.

What is it about Finland that makes them love hilarious and repulsive sexual things more than other people?

Pakistan is beyond a shadow of a doubt the capital of the universe for bestiality.

yeah man I donno.

UPDATE:

Romania love cum. Also there is an inverse correlation between searches for cum and news stories about cum.

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You know what scares me most? Eugenics.

It is human nature to be comforted by our allegiances. There’s a certain exhilaration one gets from being on a team. The bond of comradery and love is something we as people value deeply, and such unity is often found in things like tribalism, nationalism, and, most troublingly, ethnic supremacy.

The dagger is when pride’s isolating effect divides people against each other. One can look to many instances where this type of behavior has occurred, but history’s most glaring and egregious example, where the dream of unity provoked terrible violations against humanity, is, needless to say, Hitler’s push for an Arian master race.

Science has shed light on genetic differences between ethnicities and too often people use these differences to validate ideas of racial superiority.

Ironically, there is a considerable number of people from the Jewish community who have espoused the same type of ethnic superiority eugenics that Hitler did, which reminds me of something Nietzsche said: “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

Here is what I think is important to remember:
• Ethnic political equality should be of foremost concern
• Biological differences are two minimal and complicated to a) fully understand and b) dictate policy
• Ethnic superiority should be avoided.

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