Tech Buzz The “Curators of Sweden” project is a new initiative that gives a different Swede the chance to run the country's official @Sweden Twitter account for a week. There's no filter, the content is totally the prerogative of the citizen tweeter - tweeting one's lunch, drunk @ replies, cursing, criticizing Lebron James, etc. is all permitted. This is a landmark move for democracy in the digital space, also the tweets are hilarious.
Politics Buzz Is it Sharia or Shariah? Shari'ah? Whatever, just wait until the Republican candidates hear about this. (via english.aljazeera.net)
Our friends in the Middle East have utilized the internet to help spread ideas about democracy. In the US, we tweet things like this. (via thehighdefinite.com)
Horrifying video. Hamza Al-Khatib, a 13-year-old boy, was detained by Syrian forces at a checkpoint in the village of Jiza on April 29th. His barely recognizable corpse was returned to his parents nearly a month later. This video, filmed and posted on Youtube by his parents, details the horrific wounds covering Hamza's body. He was beaten, burned, shot and had his genitals cut off. Hamza has since become a martyr for the Syrian rebellion. WARNING: Graphic video.
The internet fells another misbehaving politician! For a repressive 82-year-old autocrat, Mubarak sure was fit, fun and classy. Happy Farewell Friday, Egypt!
Disturbing footage of a street protester being shot in Egypt. The condition and identity of the victim is unknown. They appear to have been participating in anti-government protests that have engulfed the Middle Eastern nation in the past few days. The Mubarak regime has imposed an internet and text messaging blackout in Egypt, presumably to stymie further organizing and prevent images such as these from sparking a Tunisia-style overthrow.
http://trueslant.com/allisonkilkenny/2009/07/06/banning-l...
American democracy is on the brink of falling apart, and one solution might be to ban the practice of lobbying, which has become too corrupt and consuming.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/22-0
An article explaining what Iran's government was like before America swooped in and turned it into what it is now.
Politics Buzz Bhutan crowned their new king today, and at 28 years old he happens to be the world's youngest ruling monarch! And ladies, not only is he Oxford educated but he is quite the looker!
A new site attempts to rate the relative sexiness of Democrats vs. Republicans. [Editors Note: Hot or Not for the partisans! Much nicer design than theonlyvote.com]