Twitter-Pated

I finally broke down this week and joined Twitter. As social networking goes, it’s really great, I’m sure, but the reason that I joined wasn’t so that I could hook up with friends. It was because a friend told me that Iran needed my help. Being that I’m a curious sort, I started asking questions about how my being on Twitter could help. The answer I was given: “To help protect the lives of people who need to get information out.”

This is a heavy kind of trip, and it’s certainly not something I’d have expected. But the real truth is, the Basij troops were victimizing people in an attempt to regain control. They are hated in their own country—and apparently with good reason: plain-clothes Basiji troops were verified to have stormed homes, broken into universities, and as of this writing have killed over 30 people and arrested hundreds of people. A couple of the Ayatollahs even got into the act—one declaring violence against the people Haram (against Islamic law), and the other apparently condoning the violence on the grounds that the people were being violent (which, mostly, they weren’t).

But the sheer cruelty of the authorities against the people who weren’t actually making trouble was made apparent in every one of the thousands of images and dozens of videos which came through unofficial channels—and there was evidence through the official channels of Photoshop being used to increase the numbers of people who were present. It’s as though they believe the public is stupid or infantile. This kind of sounds like some Hollywood executives, too… but I digress.

The most difficult thing in the world is to break an idea. You can kill people; you can’t kill an idea, once it catches on. The government’s been caught red-handed in election fraud (though an even 120% of the election counts say that the incumbent was the winner). And they’ve been trying hard to build a propaganda machine, but it just hasn’t worked.

To their credit, the Obama administration has kept their noses out of it, promising to open dialog with whichever side actually wins. This is really about democracy, and the will of the people to effect change in a regime which has resisted change for 30 years. When the smoke finally settles, I hope that a productive and peaceful dialog can be opened, in which both Iran and the United States can walk away winners.

But wow, the people who try to take advantage of the number of people who are simply in there to try to help! Spammed adverts for software, music, and even services not related to anything seem to be essentially shooting themselves in the foot. People don’t like it when you advertise something fun in the middle of a somber occasion.

And they don’t like it when you rig an election, either.

Helping the Homeless

I have a new widget on this blog. I’ve decided to try to help some of the local homeless people who want to organize a protest.  The issue is, how can they get what they need in order to be able to conduct an effective (not to mention legal) protest? There are some 95 homeless people who all have issues they want to air as a group, which means it’s more money than I can take out of my own pocket to help them. Once the funds become available, I’m sure it will actually double.

This money would also be used to help people who are not necessarily homeless, but who are too broke to afford things like magic markers and posterboard. The homeless tend to be invisible to most people. When I heard some of the things they want to protest, I was actually surprised!  I almost couldn’t believe the well-reasoned and rational arguments that were being forwarded. There were some real whoppers, too… but that’s a whole different thing: the valid points are what we aim for, like some of the following:

• Access rights: many homeless complain (and have records of) harassment by police officers, who want to get them out of an area because they scare people by their appearance (and really, some soap is all they need in many cases).
• Donations: many people use the homeless as their own personal trash deposit for things they would feel guilty about throwing away. This includes broken toys, ragged clothing, expired and spoiled food, and things which the rest of us would really find no use for.
• Communications: Believe it or not, I was there when an officer confiscated a brand-new cellular phone from a homeless man on the grounds that he couldn’t possibly have afforded it (and arrested him on suspicion of drug peddling). Knowing what I do about the guy, I can say the charge is not unfounded, but it was unwarranted. The police still hadn’t returned the phone 4 weeks later.
• Harassment: Police harrassment in general, particularly of those with gang-oriented tattoos (and who aren’t associated with those gangs any more). Apparently, people aren’t allowed to straighten up their lives.

And a plethora of others.

Even if it gets no laws changed, keeping the homeless essentially bound and gagged doesn’t serve the rest of us. It means that if we become unwanted, the same can happen to us. I’ve watched it happen.

David Carradine’s Death

I want to preface this by saying that I have never met David Carradine. I never garnered an autograph, never contacted a fan club, and had no connection that I know about to his family. But I was a fan, and I care about the lives of others. His loss is felt, because I looked forward to seeing him in more stuff. And for 73, Carradine looked better than I thought possible.

When I first read the news about the death, that he was found naked in a closet with a rope around his neck, I started thinking about conspiracies and all kinds of other things. Knowing what I do about David Carradine, I knew that he had a lot left to live for, and that the timing of his death was about as bad as it gets (not that there’s a good time to die, but that it had the effect of maximum damage). I dismissed it all as paranoia, because people who commit suicide do so for a wide variety of reasons.

A week later, I’m now reading a different story: one which calls the suicide into question. This is about what I was thinking a week ago! That it’s confirmed by a forensics expert on the scene means that what I dismissed as paranoia might have been closer to the mark than the news story.

I’m suspecting that criminal ties to someone financially (or possibly) involved in the project might be responsible. Let’s see if my suspicions are confirmed.