If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now.
They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with fervor as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmadinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmadinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.
The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite, and websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country. At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed. Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmadinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest.
Mousavi requested that the government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there. Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. People are being brutally beaten. Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran no older than I am. Tonight there is a Green Revolution.
For more information:
PICTURES:
here and here
NEW INFORMATION:
Here - near constant updates
Here - ONTD_political live post
ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi, @ProtesterHelp
دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election
- original post by
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one_hoopy_froodHere’s a partial transcript of Eichelberger’s remarks. Times are approximate.
You can listen to the whole debate at: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/radiotimes.htm
21:15
Leach: How would he [Eichelberger] want to encourage stability in gay couples?
Eichelberger: I wouldn’t. I mean they can practice whatever sexual activity they like to practice, but there’s no reason to give them special consideration. We don’t give them special consideration in Pennsylvania for any reason. Why in the world would we allow them to marry?
22:05
Leach: How would he want to encourage stability in gay couples?
Eichelberger: There is no reason to encourage that type of behavior in Pennsylvania.
24:20
Eichelberger: That comes back to the definition of family and that’s where we differ. We can call all kinds of things families. I mean, we can say a 3 party marriage is a family, or 7 or 8 people or marrying younger and younger children these days .
25:00
Host: Are you saying that by their very nature homosexual relationships are dysfunctional?
Eichelberger: [Pause] Ummmm. I guess I would say that. I would say that.
38:50
Eichelberger: This changes the definition of marriage, allowing same-sex, and then like I said, 5-10 years from now it’ll be polygamy, marrying younger people, it’ll be whatever…It won’t be a 6 year old, it’ll be a 15 year old, then it’ll be a 14 year old, then it’ll be a 13 year old.
49:40
Leach: Should our only policy towards [same-sex] couples be one of punishment, to somehow prove that they’ve done something wrong?
Eichelberger: They’re not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.
copperbadge:As a person with a brain, the fact that Amazon.com is stripping sales rankings (and thus killing publicity) from gay and lesbian literature is offensive. As a writer, it is insulting. As a writer who is in the process of publishing a book about gay men, it's annoying on a business level.
http://community.livejournal.com/meta_w
Amazon sez:
In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Sales rankings on erotica have also been pulled. Apparently "adult" material doesn't include non-erotica romance and literature aimed at heterosexuals, however, as their rankings have not been stripped. Way to be, Amazon.
This hits every anger nerve I have, including the one where I AM NOT YOUR BABYSITTER and it is not my responsibility to protect YOUR CHILD or YOUR DELICATE SENSIBILITIES from the internet.
Apparently some books may not be showing up if you search for them in Amazon's search (I can't confirm this, as I managed to find The Filly just fine). There is a list of the books with their ranks pulled here. They include not just new literature but classics like The Rubyfruit Jungle.
I strongly suggest that if you read slash online, support equality in the arts, dislike censorship, or, you know, think gay people are people, you can follow this link to Amazon's support page (you will need to log in):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/cont
and notify them that you will not be giving them your business, as they are engaging in discriminatory practices. There is an excellent letter here. This is the one I sent:
In consideration of the rights of the LGBT community, I will no longer be supporting your business. You have targeted gay and lesbian literature in stripping sales rankings from books you have deemed "adult". Since heterosexual literature of the same type has not had its sales rankings tampered with, you are engaging in discrimination.
If you do not understand why you are receiving this letter, please consult http://community.livejournal.com/meta_w
ETA: There is a petition here as well.
ETA II: Please feel free to reproduce this, link to it, or link to any of the URLs posted, on your own journal.
SON OF ETA II: Thanks
ecaterin for this news: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is running a Google Bomb. They say:I’ve created a page with the definition for “amazon rank.” LINK TO http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.c
Amazon Rank
ETA III, THE EDITING:
strange_selkie reminds us that Amazon's CTO has a twitter: @werner . I don't know what to do with that info because I don't tweet, but all you twitheads surely will :)copperbadge's original post can be found here.***
[Unknown LJ tag]
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Amazon.com.
This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.
It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search.
Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.
Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.com
So, yay they're fixing it. But it still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Probably taking most of my business to Powell's.
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disgusted
elegantenigmaMy Political Views
I am a left moderate social libertarian
Left: 7.4, Libertarian: 3.04
Political Spectrum Quiz
No surpises here!
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ecstatic
I used a brownie mix and mostly followed the directions on the box. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. I like mine fudgey, rather than cakey so I leave off a little of the water and substitute with oil and only 1 egg. Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray. Place a small amount of batter in the bottom of each cup. Place a Rolo (or whatever candy you choose) in the cup, then cover with more batter. Cook on the middle rack for 20 minutes or so. Allow to cool 30 minutes and carefully remove from the pan. These are best served warm and gooey. Enjoy!
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accomplished
copperbadge has an important post over at his LJ about the Orphan Works Bill up for Congress's consideration. Check it out and let your representative know that you oppose it.Next up: The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Chabon) and Fool on the Hill (Matt Ruff).
I was so caught up in the book that I missed the Eagles game! >.< We won! Yay!
- Mood: ecstatic
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creative
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sad
shusuMTV is doing a remake of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. WTF? No, no, and no.
Also, live action Cowboy Bebop. Again with the no.
- Mood:
pessimistic
commodoresexual! Hope you have fabulous day! *HUG*- Mood:
happy
- Mood: aggravated
Joss Whedon, you might just have redeemed yourself in my eyes after Serenity
Good news compliments of the lovely
commodoresexual! I am so totally watching this tonight! In the meantime, I twirl in my chair with glee!P.S. I still need a nap, for I am a cranky chibi.
- Mood: ecstatic
sailormac. Kodansha is opening an office in New York! The article raises some good questions, whose answers I'm looking forward to seeing. Gonna keep a close eye on this one.- Mood:
curious
( Red Flag )
compliments of Lyrics Mania
( This Suffering )
compliments of AZ Lyrics
( Mojito Chicken & Couscous )
( Tomato & Cucumber Salad with Tzatziki )
- Mood:
impressed
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polyfandomrecs for BBM fic. I eyed it warily, poked it, then wandered off to do some looking around. Lo and behold there were happy ending recs at ship_manifesto. Among them I found madlori's Human Interest and Two Crows Joy. HI is complete, TCJ is a WIP. Both of these AU fics can be found at the humaninterest community.In unrelated news, the World Cultures Day was a resounding success! Our team's display was the best- as reported by the other teams! ^.^ Pocky, of course, won the day food-wise. Mochi, however, was not so popular. The gummies were pretty popular, except the lychee flavor. I ate like a pig, sampling the other countries' foods: Germany, China, Poland, Ireland, the Caribbean, Africa, Mexico, Italy, India and the US were all represented. The US team had the worst display. India's display was pretty good, though. I am soooo stuffed!
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full
