Self-updating, for one. A script can't patch itself if it can't write files, and users can't be expected to chmod.

The theocrats didn't put Khatami in power. They were overconfident enough to allow a fairish election in which they were very disturbed to see him gain power, so the guardian council struck down every reform the reformists tried to pass and disqualified most of them from standing in the next parliamentary elections, and finally put the leaders under house arrest.

Anyone know the green and libertarian party policies on these issues?

Oh please. The USA is one of the richest nations in the world. I'm in the poorest 20% of or so of Americans in a so-called recession and I still have luxuries like internet and a place of my own that most of the world would kill for. Forecasting widespread famine and death because you can't afford your netflix subscription is ludicrously stupid.

"Nearly two-thirds of urban settlements with more than 5 million inhabitants are at least partially in the 0 to 10 meter low elevation coastal zones" (source: http://www.earth.columbia.edu/news/2007/story03-29-07.php )

If you happen to live at altitude and don't care about most of the world, you can sit back and enjoy it. I think you'll find the economic impact of flooding low-altitude cities hits you pretty hard though.

All those things are much easier to survive with a "backup" bunker on earth than one anywhere else in the solar system.

Lightweight means that when I start koffice it opens in a second, whereas when I start Libre Office I'm waiting 10 seconds and the whole computer feels slowed down by it.

Russia and China oppose Iranian nukes -- obviously they prefer their nuclear club to remain exclusive and proliferation does not benefit them. They support Iranian nuclear energy, and oppose increasing sanctions on a country which has not even been proved to be perusing nuclear weapons, let alone actually built any yet. Russia and China prefer to wait until there's clear cause to apply punishment, perhaps realizing that a country which is punished because somebody thinks they're thinking about nukes has more to gain by actually making them so they can negotiate disarmament.

A phone is not worthless without a contract. I find my smartphone quite useful paying $3/month and using wi-fi for data.

Mint requires a re-installation/import whenever there's a new release. Kubuntu, I installed once somewhere around '07 and the upgrades every 6 months are painless. You can make an argument that Mint's approach is safer, but isn't it good to have distros for both strategies so both strategies can develop further and people who prefer each have a choice?