Once again, I ask myself, why am I not living in Russia? Probably because there's so much oppression and sadness these things have to happen to lighten the load.

You know, I had that in there based solely on conjecture. I took it out because I thought I couldn't be sure. Now I watch again and see the billboard and curse myself for not trusting my instincts.

oppression? really?

Just stick to "in soviet russia" jokes if you're going to be clueless.

Now I'm trying to type the "oppression" the King is on about. The states has its class oppression firmly in place - is Russia making a bid for parity? Or are we talking criminal oppression? Again, how is that different from the US? Inquiring minds want to know...

Yes, oppression. Yes, really. It's called political oppression, and it's well documented.

It's different from the U.S. in that the U.S. doesn't have any political oppression that I'm aware of. Our elections are more-or-less fair, rather than blatantly rigged with a foregone conclusion before any ballots are cast.

Also, our Powers That Be rarely, if ever, kill journalists. Sure, they try to discredit them when they become inconvenient, but that's a far cry from murder.

So because Putin is popular in all pre and post-election polls by a wide margin, and he wins the election by a wide margin, that must mean the election is rigged? The 80,000 live webcams of voting areas must have been rigged too. And the international overseers were rigged.


And the US has murdered plenty of journalists in the states and in your various warzones (I have exactly as much admissable evidence as you do)

No, the fact that he's popular isn't why he must have rigged the elections. Rather, the fact that neutral election observers have repeatedly declared the elections unfair is what indicates that they're rigged.

See, for example:
http://www.economist.com/node/21541455
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16180553

As for murdered journalists: I'm not aware of any that the US has murdered. Links?
Regarding murdered Russian journalists:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Rus sia
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/24/russian-journalists-killed-op ed-cx_ds_1226satter.html

Those links regarding both election rigging and murdered journalists are from a quick google search. I've been reading about them for several years in various sources, most reliably in the Economist. It's not news, nor is it controversial. I'm not quite sure why you're arguing the point. Russia is not a safe place to be a political dissident.

Because a journalist is killed in russia doesnt mean the russian government did it, twit.

An offhand comment I make while half awake and barely sentient leads to this.

I forgive you.

Still not sure why the term political oppression doesn't apply.

You're not living in Russia because you have yet to finish "bear fighting and trap placement for other wild fauna and drunk citizens 101" from your pocket manual of "Introduction to Russian Life". I know it's not easy, heck, i just started chapter 4 "Be ready to burn everything you have in case foreigners invade us"

Take em.