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21 Jun 2009 22:13

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Politics, Tech: Dear Washington Post columnists: Give Twitter credit for Iran

  • What the heck, guys?

    John Palfrey, Bruce Etling and Robert Faris, you guys don’t get it. You just don’t. A lengthy response to the Twitter protest tool phenomenon is not the way to go.

    You tore it apart for the very reasons it’s useful, such as its brevity (the revolution will not be in speech form), the fact that lots of people use it and create a glut of information (much of which is retweets), and the fact that dissenters on both sides can use it.

    You have one moderately valid point: The government can block the access. Good thing they’re using proxy servers!

    source
  • What the heck, guys?

    John Palfrey, Bruce Etling and Robert Faris, you guys don’t get it. You just don’t. A lengthy response to the Twitter protest tool phenomenon is not the way to go.

    You tore it apart for the very reasons it’s useful, such as its brevity (the revolution will not be in speech form), the fact that lots of people use it and create a glut of information (much of which is retweets), and the fact that dissenters on both sides can use it.

    You have one moderately valid point: The government can block the access. Good thing they’re using proxy servers!

  • A bad example

    Here’s the real reason why you really don’t get it – you credited Andrew Sullivan for creating the hype around the protests, rather than the protesters themselves.

    We’d like to use the example of @iranriggedelect. We were an early follower of the great resource, and we recommended them when they had three followers. Now they have 10,000+.

    And of course, Twitter had to nudge CNN. Face it – Twitter isn’t people just talking. It’s media. And this media works differently.

    Please figure out why. source

21 Jun 2009 10:56

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World: Great Britain takes punch after punch from Iran’s leadership

  • Great Britain has plotted against the presidential election for more than two years. We witnessed an influx of people before the election. Elements linked to the British secret service were flying in in droves.
  • Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki • Regarding the real reason why Iran’s government is currently facing massive protests – because the U.K. planned the fallout. Uh, sure. British MP David Milliband, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, wouldn’t take the bait: “I reject categorically the idea that the protesters in Iran are manipulated or motivated by foreign countries.” • source

17 Jun 2009 11:03

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U.S., World: Also being blamed for Iran’s 99 problems: The U.S.

  • Iran’s Foreign Ministry is trashing on Obama for speaking out. The ministry got a hold of the Swiss ambassador, who handles U.S. affairs in the country, complaining about “interventionist” statements Obama made regarding the hotly-contested election. The U.S. hasn’t had consistent ties with Iran since shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979, though Obama is trying to get his foot in the door. source

15 Jun 2009 18:12

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Politics, U.S.: Dick Cheney rebuffs criticism from CIA leader Leon Panetta

  • I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted. The important
    thing is whether the Obama administration will continue the policies that have kept us safe for the past eight years.
  • Former Vice President Dick Cheney • On CIA head Leon Panetta’s calling out of Cheney for apparent questionable motives in his sudden re-emergence into the public eye. We want to see which of these old guys would win in a no-holds-barred cage match. We’re guessing Cheney because he would probably start biting first. By the way, John McCain has Cheney’s back in this case. • source

15 Jun 2009 11:10

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Politics, World: Egyptian president didn’t like Netanyahu’s speech very much

  • Netanyahu’s demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state is ruining the chance for peace.
  • Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak • Who criticized Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech for seemingly strange reasons – because, uh, Netanyahu dared to say that Palestine should accept two states, and one of them should be Israel. Because, seriously, why would the Prime Minister of Israel suggest something crazy like that? What, is he crazy or something? • source

11 Jun 2009 11:13

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Culture, Politics: David Letterman pisses off Sarah Palin, gets smacked down

  • Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No.
  • David Letterman • In an apology about a series of jokes he made about Sarah Palin’s daughter, which Palin did not take kindly to. Palin said, regarding the jokes, “it reminds us some Hollywood/N.Y. entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands.” To those looking to defend Dave: Well, he did make sexual jokes about her 14-year-old daughter. • source

09 Jun 2009 09:23

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World: China defends its decision to block online porn from its citizens

  • In an attempt to protect Chinese people from themselves, the country has chosen to block pornographic and violent people on all new computers. Great time to be alive, kids. source
  • “The Chinese government pushes forward the healthy development of the internet,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Qin Gang. “But it lawfully manages the internet.” source
 

07 Jun 2009 21:31

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Music, Politics: Iggy Pop has a huge problem with wannabe-brainy bands

  • I took great pains not to think first, because the thing I can’t stand is a rock star who thinks he’s got brains. They’re always so damned dull!
  • Rock god Iggy Pop • In a video where he bashes “crappy music” by “idiot thugs with guitars.” He was talking, specifically, about modern rock acts like Smashing Pumpkins and (uh) Limp Bizkit. Pop, by the way, is going a completely different direction with his latest album, “Preliminaires,” which is jazz-influenced and probably a better idea than that Stooges album which critics hated back in 2007. • source

07 Jun 2009 10:33

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World: Gordon Brown’s Labour Party support just dipped in the negative

  • Can we get unity under the current leadership? I am not sure that we can and I think we need to debate it urgently and I think probably it will need a change in leader.
  • Charles Falconer • A former senior Labour Party official, on the uphill battle Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces in the U.K. Election results for the European Parliament are expected to be brutal today for the ruling party, caught up in scandal and facing criticism about a lack of a coherent policy agenda. And Brown, the guy on top, has felt it the worst, losing half a dozen cabinet members this week alone. • source

04 Jun 2009 10:29

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Biz, Politics: Why we all don’t want to work for Wal-Mart

  • 34 number of hours per week that constitute “full-time” at Wal-Mart; just about everywhere else, it’s 40 source