PELLEY: One last thing. So important for the American people to understand. When your airplane approaches Manhattan this week, you will look out the window and you will see that the World Trade Center is gone. Many Americans, Mr. President, to be frank, believe that you look out that window and you say to yourself, "Good. Somebody got 'em." They believe our countries are enemies.
cut Pelley's head off
inconspicuous
lol @ political cannibalism.
emc^2
not quite related, but I thought I'd say:
Columbia University = Berkley East
bunch of commies and left wing nutjobs.
emc^2
personally, I liked it when the "real" wars were fought - e.g. WWII - there, no media interviewing the enemy. Just a plain and simple building-leveling air strike, combined with "f*ck political correctness, who gives a crap about civilians", nothing held back deathmatch.
You knew the enemy, enemy knew you - boom boom, death is dealt out in plentiful numbers, the enemy surrendered or killed, the end.
now, it's all about being politically correct, about public opinion, let's see who's with us/against us.
you know what? it's all bs. the wars are fought at much higher levels - the levels to which neither one of us, "mortals", are privviyed to. We don't know the half of it, nor the true reasons, nor the real motivations. It's all a game of chess, between the crazy power moguls of this world. Oil, natural resources, money - is the true motivators. The rest is just a trite babble to pacify/arouse the masses.
Besides, activism as we know it is dead in US. all this demonstration crap is a fart in the wind, comparing to mass-delivered sensual overload that is mainstream media/TV programming. Does US even feel that it's at war???? Hell no. All suburbanites are happily surfing the web on their iphones at the local starbucks, while some misfortunate souls are dying for reasons unknown to most.
disguisting, if u ask me.
p.s. u know this war would have been over long time ago, if everyone in this country had to contribute and be involved. If people had to sacrifice their lofty lifestyles and go serve in the war zone or people had to leave their well paid jobs and go work in the factories to build or make tanks, planes, ships, ammunition, guns, etc.
People would get sick of it very quickly and it would result in the following:
1. Wider support for the war effort, resulting in quicker end of conflict
2. Spiraling out of control, into a true WW III, with massive a$$f*ckery world-wide
3. Wide rebellion against the war, resulting in more pronounced acts of opposition to war, resulting in quicker end of conflict and withdrawal of troops.
This war benefits the bushes, the chenneys, the haliburtons, boeings, lockheed martins, and other interests. they are the ones profiting from your tax dollars, while reducing our collective security to nil.
sorry to have disturbed your oreo cookie pizza snack time. you can go back to your burgers and lattes, america. the government is in control.
/fyi: I am an American
Lebezniatnikov
quote:
Originally posted by emc^2
enemy.
?
Personally, I think it's great that Columbia brought Ahmadinejad to speak - discourse and exchange are the most fundamental ways to avoid conflict (which, by the way, does not describe the current relationship with Iran). For those that read the transcript, there were some very interesting points made. Particularly:
quote:
Mr. Ahmadinejad began: “At the outset, I want to complain a bit about the person who read this political statement against me. In Iran, tradition requires that when we invite a person to be a speaker, we actually respect our students and the professors by allowing them to make their own judgment and we don’t think it’s necessary before the speech is even given to come in with a series of claims…”
The room, surprisingly, erupted in applause.
Mr. Ahmadinejad added: “…and to attempt to provide a vaccination of sorts to our faculty and students. The text, more than addressing me, was an insult to the audience here. In a university environment, we must allow people to speak their mind, to allow everyone to talk, so that the truth is eventually revealed by all.”
p.s. u know this war would have been over long time ago, if everyone in this country had to contribute and be involved.
What war?
quote:
/fyi: I am an American
Obviously.
MrJiveBoJingles
Heh, and Iran has a great record on freedom of information and speech. :clown:
LazFX
quote:
Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
?
Personally, I think it's great that Columbia brought Ahmadinejad to speak - discourse and exchange are the most fundamental ways to avoid conflict (which, by the way, does not describe the current relationship with Iran). For those that read the transcript, there were some very interesting points made. Particularly:
they actually erupted in applause after the president called out Imajerkawad...
Iranian leader 'petty, cruel dictator,' school president says
quote:
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Columbia University President Lee Bollinger excoriated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, going through a long list of documented actions and remarks by the firebrand Iranian leader and his government.
"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said to applause from many of the 600 people in the room for a speech from the Iranian leader.
Bollinger cited the Iranian government's "brutal crackdown" on dissidents, public executions, executions of minors and other actions.
And he assailed Ahmadinejad's "denying" of the Holocaust as "ridiculous" and "dangerous propaganda." He called the Iranian leader either brazenly provocative "or astonishingly uneducated."
"The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history," he said.
He said he doubted Ahmadinejad would show the intellectual courage to answer the questions before him.
Ahmadinejad responded quickly.
"We don't think it's necessary before the speech is given to come in with some series of claims," the Iranian leader said.
He said Bollinger's comments included "insults" and false claims, and flew in the face of an environment that's supposed to let people speak their minds.
On the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad asked why history can't be questioned and further researched.
"If the Holocaust is a reality of our time, a history that occurred, why is there not sufficient research that can approach the topic from different perspectives?" he asked.
The Iranian leader has made statements in the past suggesting that Israel be politically "wiped off the map," though he insists that can be accomplished without violence.
While he would not respond with a "yes" or "no" when asked Monday if he sought the destruction of Israel, he said the status of Israel should be determined by a free election.
"Let the people of Palestine freely choose what they want for their future," he said.
Asked about widely documented government abuse of women and homosexuals in his country, Ahmadinejad said, "We don't have homosexuals" in Iran. "I don't know who told you we had it," he said.
He also repeatedly said that women have freedoms in Iran and refused to comment on reports that their freedom is severely constrained.
Ahmadinejad said Iran questions "the way the world is being run and managed today."
But he said Iran would hold talks with the U.S. government "under fair and just circumstances."
As he ended his talk at Columbia, he invited faculty and students to visit any university they liked in Iran.
Earlier Monday, in a question-and-answer video conference with the National Press Club, Ahmadinejad said the Middle East can govern itself without interference from the United States and other Western nations.
Speaking from New York to the luncheon in Washington, Ahmadinejad said Iran wanted to see "an independent powerful Iraq ... which will benefit the entire region."
"We are two nations interconnected," he said of Iran and Iraq. "We are brothers and friends."
But he said the region didn't need U.S. help.
"We oppose the way the U.S. government tries to manage the world. ... We propose more humane methods of establishing peace," he said.
He also said all the world's religions have the same common ground, "justice and friendship."
The views of all religions must be respected and "we must all move hand in hand," Ahmadinejad said.
Earlier in an interview with The Associated Press, Ahmadinejad said he didn't think the United States was preparing for war against Iran.
"I believe that some of the talk in this regard arises first of all from anger. Secondly, it serves the electoral purposes domestically in this country. Third, it serves as a cover for policy failures over Iraq," he told the AP.
The Iranian president said his country would not attack Israel.
"Iran will not attack any country," the AP quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Despite an outcry against Ahmadinejad that included New York tabloid headlines such as "The Evil Has Landed," John Coatsworth, acting dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, said it is important for Americans to hear from the Iranian leader.
"Iran is going to ... hold the key to peace in the Middle East. We have to deal with and negotiate with leaders like this however much we may disagree with their views," Coatsworth said on CNN's "American Morning."
Christine C. Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council, said Columbia should not be giving Ahmadinejad a platform. "All he will do on that stage ... is spew more hatred and more venom out there to the world," Quinn said.
Hamid Dabasi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia, called the whole forum "misguided."
Ahmadinejad also has drawn fire for his insistence that Iran will defy international demands that it halt production of enriched uranium. Iran insists it is producing nuclear fuel for civilian power plants, but Washington accuses Tehran of trying to create a nuclear weapons program.
Also, the United States says Iranian explosives and weapons are making their way to Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq's sectarian conflict and have been used against U.S. troops in the 4-year-old war. U.S. commanders say they have captured Iranian agents involved in supplying those weapons to the militias, some of which have longstanding ties to the Islamic republic.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Ahmadinejad denied U.S. accusations that Iranian weapons are being used against American troops in Iraq, saying, "Insecurity in Iraq is detrimental to our interests."
He said U.S. officials are blaming his country for problems unleashed by the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
"American officials, wherever around the world that they encounter a problem which they fail to resolve, instead of accepting that, they prefer to accuse others," he said. "I'm very sorry that because of the wrong decisions taken by American officials, Iraqi people are being killed and also American soldiers."
He added, "If they accuse us 1,000 times, the truth will not change."
Ahmadinejad landed in New York on Sunday to attend the U.N. General Assembly session, which opens Monday. He is set to speak Tuesday at the United Nations.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Asked about widely documented government abuse of women and homosexuals in his country, Ahmadinejad said, "We don't have homosexuals" in Iran. "I don't know who told you we had it," he said.
:haha:
emc^2
quote:
Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
?
Personally, I think it's great that Columbia brought Ahmadinejad to speak - discourse and exchange are the most fundamental ways to avoid conflict (which, by the way, does not describe the current relationship with Iran). For those that read the transcript, there were some very interesting points made. Particularly:
must be nice to live in your rose-colored world. why is entire world suffering from the "stockholm" syndrome? Personally, this is how I would have handled it:
how can one read the transcript without cringing? sh!t, if Asshatjerkwad was a real Pinnochio, he could make millions, working for Home Depot, as an endless provider of lumber coming out of his nose.
Personally, if one of the students blew him/herself up and took the out Asshatjizwad, even if it meant killing everyone in the audience - I'd say it would have been a reasonable sacrifice.
emc^2
quote:
We love the Jewish people. There are many Jews living in Iran, with peace and security
