The Stout Republican

IPN as in the International Programming Network, Persian TV out of Van Nuys, California OR the Iran Press News, oh pundits of the blogosphere?

From the bloges at MyPetJawa

“Uploading your video to the internet, zeros dollars. Phone call from Iran saying IPN is hot-linking your video to a giant Jumbotron in Tehran, 12 dollars. Replacing the video with hot nekkid chicks, Priceless!”

Jihad for humor! NOPE the video has been pulled by the dhimmies at YouTube. I guess the Sharia police got to them… The people that took the video were obviously in on it, the giggles and laughs indicated a definite off the hook time downtown Tehran was being had by all. Hope they are safe and still smiling.

Humorless,

GoingThere

Careless, Heretic, Humor, Iran, Islam, Jihad dhimmies youtube islam careless

What did you expect from the “free and unbiased” Persian media?

Strong, scientific and accurate answers of the President of Iran to the questions raised by the academicians in Columbia University made them applause and showed that they are not affected by the propaganda of the American Media. They officially asserted in a poll that they agreed with Ahmadinejad’s statements. The American televisions, which thought tricky questions will surprise the president, showed the program live. These sources, some of which are controlled by the Zionists, were shocked after the results of the poll came out.

According to the poll, the majority of the participants agreed that Columbia’s invitation of Ahmadinejad was a good decision…. Many Americans called the network to emphasize on the importance of freedom of speech in America…

A few people, some of whom were connected to the Zionists, protested against Ahmadinejad’s speech, but the poll showed that these were only a minority in the American society. -[Emphasis Mine]

H/T – Hot Air.

So, according to Tehran, the only people who disagreed with Mr. Ahmadinejad, are crazy Zionists like me (codeword for Joooooooo)…this does of course come as a shock to me…apparently my mother is a liar.

Iran

Whether it be dropping the F Bomb in a paper, or having the puppet of Khamenei speak at your university…people seemed to have missed some points about free speech.

Freedom of speech does not mean you have the right to be heard. – You can say whatever the hell your stupid little heart desires…I’m not required to listen to your dumb ass.

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequence. – You can say “Fuck Bush” in your college newspaper…but if the advertisers pull, don’t be shocked. People, especially the youth, need to understand that your words aren’t just free floating ideas that strike, and yet somehow simultaneously shield you from the strikes of others.

Freedom of speech does not exist just for you. – If I have to see one more video tape of a college kid shouting down some conservative speaker just so his ideas aren’t heard, I’m going to punch a baby square in the face. You heard me. A cute orphan baby…it makes me that angry.

And here’s the coup de grace:

On second day of his entry in New York, and amid standing ovation of the audience that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not going to attack any country in the world.

…

The audience on repeated occasion applauded Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.

People don’t seem to understand the propaganda machine that is the Middle East, specifically Iran. Hippies simmer down, this is not license to segue into America blows for this or that reason. We have a free (yet decidedly biased) press here in the US, and if MoveOn.org has taught us anything, it’s that our press can say pretty much whatever it wants to our leaders with or without the government’s consent. Our free press checks, rechecks, and then our blog community checks and rechecks, leading to one story having multiple angles, analysis, and editorials. Iran does not. Iran instead now has the ability to publish a story about how their leader was accepted, applauded, and agreed with at one of the United States’ premier Ivy League schools. What did we gain? In GEORGE ORWELL AND THE POLITICS OF TRUTH: Portrait of the Intellectual as a Man of Virtue by Lionel Trilling it’s written of Orwell:

Shaw had insisted upon remaining sublimely unaware of the Russian actuality; Wells had pooh-poohed the threat of Hitler and had written off as anachronisms the very forces that were at the moment shaping the world-racial pride, leader-worship, religious belief, patriotism, love of war. These men had trained the political intelligence of the intelligentsia, who now, in their love of abstractions, in their wish to repudiate the anachronisms of their own emotions, could not conceive of directing upon Russia anything like the same stringency of criticism they used upon their own nation. Orwell had the simple courage to point out that the pacifists preached their doctrine under condition of the protection of the British navy, and that, against Germany and Russia, Gandhi’s passive resistance would have been of no avail.

Well, Bollinger and the intellectual “intelligentsia” got the self edifying knowledge that they were able to prove their mental prowess by confronting a man in a “debate” (hardly) setting. What did they gain? Well, the knowledge that they met with this man, and attempted to reason with him. They’ve done their part. What did Iran gain? Surely the Iran people saw these intellectual heroes stand up to the likes of Ahmedinejad in their homes via their television.

1) VOA Television nightly services on HotBird and TeleStar 12 satellites were disrupted in Tehran for about 20 minutes, as soon as he was to be introduced at Columbia university’s podium. Iranian citizens did not hear the criticism of Ahmadinejad by Columbia President Bollinger. The way the Islamic Republic does this is to scramble the signals of these satellites locally, using stationary and mobile microwave dishes.

So our obsession with exercising our blind right to free speech doesn’t seem to have done much for our people, except those few who can pat themselves on the back, or those fewer who can say “I like the guy” in a classic enemy of my enemy is my friend type of way.

Free speech is one of the highlights of what makes our nation great…it’s a shame that those who have been blessed with it’s fruits don’t have the forsight and fortitude to know that sometimes, just sometimes, knowing when to shut up or say no, can be just as important a contribution to our country as letting your chablis sipping lips flow freely. This isn’t about free speech…this is about understanding that our speech can be used, cut, manipulated, and redubbed to show Ahmadinejad shaking the hand of the President of a major university, saying the holocaust needs more research, denying that gays exist in Iran, and cut to the audience standing, laughing, and applauding.

Good for us though…we were able to wax poetic with a dictator.

UPDATE: Hotair has the details…but Free Speech doesn’t extend to Iran…go figure. Excerpt:

In a statement released by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission the organization noted that the comments had been removed from the Persian language version of the site, but left in the English transcription of the speech. Following an inquiry by PageOneQ made to the Iranian embassy, the entire question and answer period has been removed from the site…

According to IGLHRC, no Persian language papers have reported on the remarks.

Iran

In a fit of “It’s our culture, we can do whatever we want, regardless of what civil liberties we violate, and the liberals will still like us more than George Bush” Iran has detained mass murderers….no wait…kids who participated in an underground rock show:

Iranian police detained more than 200 people and seized alcohol and drugs in a raid on a “satanic” underground rock concert, media in the conservative Islamic state reported.

Iran, which has launched an annual summer crackdown on “immoral behaviour”, bans alcohol, narcotics and parties with unrelated men and women dancing, drinking and mixing. Western popular music is frowned upon.

The police operation took place on Wednesday night in the town of Karaj near the capital Tehran, at an event with local disc jockeys, rock and rap groups performing, the media said.

“Most of those arrested are wealthy young people. . . who came to this party with the goal of attending a provocative, satanic concert,” daily Tehran-e Emrouz quoted a senior police official, Reza Zarei, as saying.

Karaj’s public prosecutor, Ali Farhadi, said invitations had been sent out via the Internet and that people from Britain and Sweden were among those held. Zarei suggested they were expatriate Iranians visiting the country.

Farhadi said 150 bottles of alcoholic drinks, 800 “obscene” CDs and different kinds of drugs had been confiscated by police, as well as “inappropriate” dresses that those behind the event were giving to female guests as gifts.

“Some 230 people who attended a rock party in Karaj were identified and arrested,” Farhadi said on the website of Iran’s state broadcaster.

He said 20 video cameras had also been seized and that the organisers had planned to blackmail girls after filming “inappropriate and obscene” videos of them.

Under sharia, Islamic law, imposed after Iran’s 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing to disguise their figures and protect their modesty. Violators can receive lashes, fines or imprisonment.

It a fit of “who are we to judge them” and deferring to moral ambiguity…a deafening hush came across the audience, before a voice could be heard saying “Yeah, well Dick Cheney wants to turn the US into a fascist state, and trades blood for oil.” Instantly waves of agreement flowed through the crowd like heroin through the veins of needy junkies. “Yes,” one man could be seen nodding in agreement, “I”m much more comfortable criticizing that great Satan.”

At least Sharia doesn’t hate classic rock…right?

Iran, Social Issues

Much to the chagrin of the DailyKos crowd and the Ron Paul supporters…although I’m sure it’s still going to be our fault in their minds…Iran is making moves the reek of war footing. Via Hot Air from the UK Sun:

Last night an intelligence source told The Sun: “It is an extremely alarming development and raises the stakes considerably. In effect, it means we are in a full on war with Iran — but nobody has officially declared it.

“We have hard proof that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have crossed the border to attack us.

“It is very hard for us to strike back. All we can do is try to defend ourselves. We are badly on the back foot.”

Our Boys picked up the Iranian helicopters on radar crossing into empty desert.

The sightings have been confirmed to The Sun by very senior military sources.

At least two Brit squaddies are thought to have been killed by bombs planted during these incursions into Maysan province — Corporal Ben Leaning, 24, and Trooper Kristen Turton, 27.

A further 44 British deaths have also been linked to the highly advanced bombs, rockets and mortars which originated in Iran.

So what does this mean for the British? What does this mean for the US? If this is true (the fact it’s the Sun Times, where we usually turn to for Babyshambles and coked up Kate Moss doesn’t instill confidence in the fact finding division) then we’ve got serious problems. Although we are still in Iraq at behest of the Iraqi government (like it or not) how do we deal with act of aggression from a sovereign nation. The liberals have neutered us, so we won’t be able to address it forthright with retaliation without people screaming “Halliburton!” and “Cheney!”, and while we “reason” with them, they continue to kill our allies, and our soldiers…which liberals are okay with, as long as we don’t take arms back up against them, then we’re the evil. Avoid war at any cost. Save life at the expense of life. Protect the defenseless by walking away. Guns cause violence, not people…unless those guns are nuclear weapons…then people cause violence.

The Ron Paul crowd would have you believe that this is Israel, this is oil, this is our fault. As Bryan asks:

Have the Iranians judged the strength of the British military based on its most recent close encounter with the Royal Navy? If so, now’s a good time to start worrying.

I think that he’s probably right. We’ve been tested, poked, prodded, and found lacking. We have no backbone. Our people have no backbone, and the officials that had a backbone, have lost the support of the people on tangential issues. The cancer is spreading, the support is gone, and some of the crazies even excuse the fascists. Why shouldn’t Iran have nuclear power? Because they don’t have the checks and balances to not push the button, because as much as some of our elected officials hate the Jews, it’s not our official platform, in our speeches, and ingrained in our very way of life to end their existence.

So what now? I’m guessing nothing. Bush gets blamed for Iran crossing the border of a sovereign nation and killing it’s peacekeepers. Chavez will still meet with Ahmadinejad. Liberals will still hang off of the testicles of the Chavez, even while his men shoot and attack those who would dare be vocal against his policies. The Jews will be blamed for everything. Kucinich will still look like a Muppet washed on hot. There will still be commentary that Bush is worse than Hitler. It’s the end of intellectual honesty. Even I have the intelligence to recognize that while I didn’t agree with Clinton’s policies, he wasn’t the worst president ever. That honor goes to another.

So this is how it goes now. Crippled…castrated.

/rant

Aside: Will the liberals protect us? I’ve found an answer. It’s time to buy a firearm…I don’t trust my government to do it for me any more.

Screw it all man…enjoy the tunes.

Iran, Rant

Caught the headline on Drudge…

“With God’s help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech.

“By God’s will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future,” he said. He did not elaborate.

But hey…waiting for the inevitable “we shouldn’t be focusing on this when America and Bush and Rove and Cheney…”

Exit Question: How is it possible to hate George Bush so much, but to have him be the motivating factor of every political thought process a person can have? Reworded…is it healthy to have then end point of every conversation be “Bush bad”, regardless of what that conversation is? For examples…see last 2 weeks of posts, and ensuing conversation.

Iran

I’ve been a fan of Thomas Sowell ever since my Ethics class back in college. His common sense approach to social issues, and his brilliance in regards to economic issues are beyond admirable. Every now and then he releases a “Random Thoughts” article.

Read more…

Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

“These oppressive countries are angry with us … a nation that on the other side of the globe has risen up and proved the shallowness of their power,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northern town of Ramsar, the semi-official news agency Mehr reported Wednesday.

“They are angry with our nation. But we tell them ’so be it and die from this anger’. Rest assured that if you do not respond to the divine call, you will die soon and vanish from the face of the earth,” he said.

…

“Thank to God’s help, we have gone all the way and are only one step away from the zenith…We hope to have the big nuclear celebration by the end of the year (March 2007),” Ahmadinejad said, echoing comments he has made on numerous occasions in recent months.

Are we going to look back five years from now, as we wander the barren wastelands of the desert with our dog that communicates with us via a Psychic connection (10 points to whoever gets that reference), and say “Wow, we should have taken that ‘Nuclear Celebration, you will die soon’ thing seriously.”

Some people throw tempter tantrums as a global cry for attention, but others feel it’s their divine imperative to act at the sweeping arm of God, and the God of Islam has a different goal it seems than the God of Christianity…not a lot of “turning the other cheek” type behavior. Extremist one might say? Possibly…but an extremist who was voted into office and represents a country of 68 million people who have nuclear ambitions and aren’t shy about their hatred of us, Israel, and probably puppies and ice cream.

To rehash some of my favorite quotes:

The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world.

Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.

This of course if accompanied by the famous “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” chants that are the soundtrack to his many speaking appearances. There’s probably not an equivilant of CAIR in the Middle East to defend the US from global slander…I’m assuming they’d probably be tried and hanged for Insults against the Prophet, or speaking on a Tuesday, or some other ridiculous restriction on speech that ends in a sharp blade on the back of the neck.

MIDDLE EAST TANGENTS: Visit Angel’s page at Woman Honor Thyself as she has a great post on the forgotten kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Rightwing guy has his thoughts on the Iraqi report released today. Last but not least, Dog Humor since the wife occassionally reads this to see what’s keeping me up.

Iran, Terrorism

The Stout Republican is going to be doing a small Christmas drive for the troops. We’re going to be doing a fundraiser with a $150 goal over the next month (cut off December 10th) so we can send a gift basket to the troops overseas via Operation Gratitude. As far as I can tell, this is truly a bipartisan site, and all donations made via this site (through here) are anonymous, to even me. I’m not making a political statement here, I just know that many of these men and women, every little bit helps.

UPDATE: After a request by Operation Gratitude, and possible tax issues I was unaware of, we are going to be doing direct donations from this point on. Any current donations will be forwarded directly to Operation Gratitude as soon as they clear. Good news is with combined donations we’ve already met our prelim goal of $150.

Iran, Random

I will be writing the below section as a Moonbat Liberal.

Today the Guardian released an article exposing:

Iran’s Islamic government has opened a new front in its drive to stifle domestic political dissent and combat the influence of western culture – by banning high-speed internet links.

In a blow to the country’s estimated 5 million internet users, service providers have been told to restrict online speeds to 128 kilobytes a second and been forbidden from offering fast broadband packages. The move by Iran’s telecommunications regulator will make it more difficult to download foreign music, films and television programmes, which the authorities blame for undermining Islamic culture among the younger generation. It will also impede efforts by political opposition groups to organise by uploading information on to the net.

Admirable of Ahmadinejad and Co…their Culture is important to them, and for us to be true citizens of the world, we need to make sure that we help them maintain their cultural and national identity…we as the rich over privileged white people that we are need to send them money to support this preservation movement. The West isn’t that great anyways, I’m sure that this administration just wants to use the high speed internet to somehow find a way to profiteer off of the oil of a proud, flawless culture. How dare we judge them! If they want to rape women, and then stone and throw acid on them for infidelity, then that’s their prerogative. Judging is bad, and these ignorant neo-con fascist Rovians need to learn that.

We need to stay out of their country and out of their business. Why are we even getting news from Iran? Since we truly should leave their business within their control, and the well being of the people up to their Democratically elected officials, the only news we should hear is what is filtered to us through the UN Security Council.

Iran, Moonbats