Iranian Mousavi supporter 2009, or disenfranchised Floridian in 2000:
Confused Iranian voter 2009, or confused butterfly balloter 2000:
Iranian protestors questioning their vote count results 2009, or U.S. Ohio demonstrators in 2004:
Yes for a brief moment I did wonder if perhaps I had timewarped back to our presidential election in 2000 or 2004 -- but then I remembered the good citizens of the United States did not take to the streets en masse when confronted with questionable election results. That's why I'm so proud of the Iranian citizens for putting their bodies on the line standing up to the police and military and other power status quo. The ability to have valid elections goes to the very core of what democracy means. My heart goes out to the brave Iranian men and women who are risking all in an effort to get their votes accurately counted.
Who's Who in Iran (a guide to the people you are seeing on TV)
Al Jazeera English (click refresh for latest news)
11 comments:
Wow~ It is a kind of deja vu, stolen elections... and I do remember the Bush inaugural-- people holding signs saying *Hail to the Thief*, there was even some eggs thrown at the presidential limo. The crowd was hostile enough that they told him to skip a part they were supposed to walk & drove at a quicker pace in the bullet proof vehicle.
The Supreme court decided that election-- no need to recount the votes. There should have been masses in the street, his reign turned out to be toxic & disastrous.
I too am glad they are standing up & demanding a recount. But I also read @ Watergate Summer, Enigma posted about how visiting/Western media election Visas expire today, so in a sense witnesses to this uprising have to go away. There is some definite concern as to when will happen from here.
Fran:
Well Iran doesn't have a Supreme Court, just their version of Scalia-Thomas-Renquist who is called the Supreme Leader and who will eventually decide who has won their election.
I didn't mean to imply we had NO protests over Bush's stolen elections. But wow, these Iranians are out in the streets of Tehran 100K strong or more, not just one day, but EVERY day. They are also protesting in other cities, not just Tehran. And they are risking their lives to do it! By comparison, we were far too complacent.
In 2000, recounting butterfly ballots that clearly showed voter intent was frustrated by republican overseers (all those elderly jews must've really voted for Buchanan or been too weak to punch through the built-up chads in the uncleaned voting machines, either way, it's not a vote for Gore). When the FL state supreme court finally ordered a statewide recount, the US supremes stopped them from doing it with the insane logic of yes it is legal to recount but now it is too late to recount so you must not recount. And none of that even addressed outright voter purging!
The Iranians are handling it the way we should have. Take it to the streets! I sure do hope their chances are better this time than in 1979 or in Chili in 1973 or our own in 2000 & 2004.
The revolution will be Tweeted..lol That's how they are getting the news out after the reporters are getting thrown out, that and by satellite, for the most part. The Iranians are doing all they can, lets hope it works, of course so are the GOPers, they seem to be doing all they can to get us in the middle of it by trying to start a war or something, by ramping up the rhetoric. Can't they just STHU..
Or, OR....these wonderful protestors are doing their work on behalf of the CIA! Who knows what to believe?
Of course, whether valid or not, we should have had such juevos after the 2000 election Fla. returns but, hey, this is America where we're far to accepting (and civil) to take to the streets in angry mobs like those conservative extremists were threatening to do. So the democrats caved, let the pissant republicans have their way. It only cost us 8 years of Bush (which was pretty extreme) but, hey, Obama's smoothing down Bush's rough edges, following as he is in Bush's footsteps.
Annette:
ramping up the rhetoric is not just a GOP tactic, lol! but we can be thankful this didn't happen a few years ago or Bush/Cheney would've definitely used it as an excuse to "go in there & forcefeed some american democracy to iran". afterall, it worked out so well in iraq! I just don't think the ever dwindling GOP have the numbers now to force us anywhere we don't already want to go (which is a pretty scary thought if we do somehow end up going in there).
Dada:
Nice to see your latest incarnation as a revolutionary! I had no idea one could grow such a beard so quickly!
I read your linked article with interest but not much agreement, having seen no evidence that Mousavi is an "American Puppet". In fact, prior to the election, I recall most analysts saying he wasn't much different from his opponent, just a little less nutzo. And as the article pointed out, the position of president in Iran is very much subject to what the ruling clerics & supreme leader decree.
I also think Obama is handling it pretty well even though he is being pushed to declare more support for the protesters. For many of the reasons stated in your linked article, he should not do that. It does not help us to be seen as meddlesome empirialists (even if we are, I don't think this president is going to baldly state something as brash as "bring it on" ala GWB nor will he promise military support that never materializes to an uprising group of eventually gassed villagers ala GHWB).
Still, that doesn't prevent me or anyone else from expressing support for the sheer numbers of protesters who are risking their lives right now in an effort to make sure their votes were accurately counted. This is exactly what I recall the various student groups in Iran were saying was on the verge of happening in 2001 before Bush decided to poke his nose in the middle east thus riling up the hardliners and extremists.
D.K. Totally agree with your conclusion. As for what's really happening in Iran and why, well, I have no idea. I am but a babe in my high chair washing down the mush I'm fed with the Kool Aid the media feed me.
And like any good little kid in its high chair swallowing its mush and Kool Aid, I'm subject to spit it all up later.
Wonder if that has anything to do with my latest incarnation, i.e., sick and tired of my diet? 8~)
Dada, WTH are you doing up at 3AM? oh wait, I forgot I have this blog set to Pacific Time since even after 3-yrs here, my brain is still stuck in PTZ. so ... WTH are you doing up at 4AM?
As far as pablum and koolaid, hey that's OK ... after being called a communist pinhead by my rabid repuke fox-luvin bro yesterday, I think I rather like the mush I'm being fed. It sure beats whatever he's been swallowing and attempting to regurgitate on my head.
ps luv the whiskers and beret!
My response went to the ether!
The US response to the Bush stolen election was lame.
Which is why Iran may be so fired up-- they saw the consequences of letting a madman steal an election.
What happened to Dada's avatar??
Real photo, or is he Che Guevera???
Enquiring minds want to know.
Fran, it looks a bit more like Fidel's old beard to me, but the beret is all Che! Perhaps Dada will enlighten those of us with beard-envy?
I started to make a comment on the post, then I saw the word:
"Speak!".....made me chuckle, so instead I'll just say:
'ARF'!!!!
Happy Diane,
Hey, better "arf" than "barf", eh?
I'm sorry to be so scarce on the blogs right now. We are deep in the final design phase of a custom home. Thanks for the "woof out"!
Post a Comment