Iran

... began to put enormous pressure on the British and American governments, and on the United nations, to intercede. The British ... power, and with the backing of the American and British governments, the Shah clamped down with the utmost ferocity on dissident and... at the United States whenever we pontificate about establishing democratic governments in the Muslim world. They simply point to the events ...

Rumors of Demise..greatly exaggerated

...'t quite kill it's host. They feed upon the frenzy in a negative feedback loop of approval and then say "we only tell the people what they want to hear." As I told a friend on FB: Governments and the Media need to accept responsibility for their role in pandering too and elevating as 'holy' the most base and lowest common denominator of human mob-behavior. But oh hay, that won't sell papers, will...

... can you take a photograph with the Chilean press, please?” one reporter asked at the end of an Oval Office statement by Obama and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. “A photograph with the press?” Obama asked. “OK, why don’t we go outside?” The U.S. leader was less forthcoming on the matter of apologizing for the CIA’s long history of meddling in the affairs of Latin American governments.

:D

.... “Well. At least theft and murder and piracy are honest. I believe in that more than I do in my father. Something Starfleet’s lost, my ass. What you told me is that good men don’t survive good governments.” “And you’re a good man?” Pike says. “No. If I were, I wouldn’t be trying to negotiate with the Admiralty, now, would I? We all have our little vices. If you played politics enough to get ...

COMMENTARY- OotB Ch 1

... saw a post comparing the Colonial Military to the Alliance. And they were shockingly right, but I really needed a “bad guy” so the Alliance had to be a military dictatorship, small local corrupt governments working for the autocracy.  Jayne. Bi zui. It sounds as good a plan as any, Sir. Galactica, we accept your offer. Roslin was smiling, and Adama couldn’t help but feel its contagious...

Not entirely unexpected.

... for another job at the faculty of theology and am planning to apply for two more jobs this week. Today I'm going to make myself a profile on various jobsites. I already completed my profile for the governments' recruitment sites, but at the moment there were not too many matching openings. We'll see! I just worked out on My Fitness Coach and the Wii Fit... It had been too long. Due to exams and...

Innovation Policy for the U.S.?

..., Chile, Colombia, Finland, India, Norway and Singapore came by to discuss the whole idea, and indirectly advised their American hosts about ways to implement such policies. But governments are increasingly wading into the innovation game, declaring innovation agendas and appointing senior innovation officials. The impetus comes from two fronts: daunting challenges in fields like energy, the ...

Supreme Court Fails while Michigan Suburb Does Great

... message that they were being idiots (which they are), without having the effect of compelling other states or creating a Federal precedent.  Presumably Roberts, and the other soulless jerks who voted for state governments’ rights to let innocent people die in jail , understand this point as well. Alaska is really the one guilty of the hideous end of the crime here, but by choosing not to step ...

On Iran

Doug Muir has some good analysis of what kinds of governments fall to popular protests, and what kinds don't, as applied to the case of Iran. Short version: if the Iranian government still has the loyalty of its armed forces, to the point that they will be willing to fire on civilians, itwill remain in power. And it appears that it does retain that loyalty.

Supreme Leader is a Great Gig If You Can Get It.

... we can clearly see from the protests, Iran has one of the most – if not the most – vibrant democratic cultures in the Middle East, in complete contrast to having one of the least democratic governments in the world. Which makes the YouTube and Twitter coverage extremely important - what many Americans are learning from it is that Iran is not a country of extremists and radicals, but a modern, ...