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Bush should invite him to the Whitehouse for dinner. Serve pork chops.
Yes, yes. He is so profound. Like you know, the
holocaust didn't happen and lets kill all Jews. And
death to America and the infidels. Let us hear what
he has to say. Pick-up a newspaper in the mornings,
it has at least two or three articles on what he has to
say.
Bush should invite him to the Whitehouse for dinner. Serve pork chops.
So, don't attend his speech if he'll offer you nothing!
My God -- when did we reach the point that the only means to register dissent became an effort to silence an opposing viewpoint? It's no wonder people run like crazy to talk radio and the media when it comes to politics -- nobody is willing to listen to the other side and think for themselves!
Ultimately, what difference does it make to you if he speaks on a university campus that doesn't see any of your money? By your reasoning, I should be all up in arms anytime some neo-con that I disagree with speaks on a private university's campus.
It's the university's prerogative to invite him to speak, for whatever reason it wishes. Frankly, it's an odd selection, given Ahmadinejad's strong anti-Zionist views and the fact that a significant percentage of Columbia's student body (and administration) is Jewish.
served by Hooter girls.Bush should invite him to the Whitehouse for dinner. Serve pork chops.
That is a sad truth in a way. At least he knew how to defeat Islamo-Fascists. Maybe not so sad?
Ahmadinejad to Speak on Campus
By Melissa Repko, Joy Resmovits, Laura Schreiber and Tom Faure
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 20, 2007
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted an offer to speak next week at Columbia’s World Leaders Forum, the University announced Wednesday.
The appearance of Ahmadinejad—widely criticized for espousing anti-Semitic views and condemned for apparent human rights abuses—will mark the head of state’s first-ever public engagement at a U.S. university and seems certain to fuel heated protest on and beyond Columbia’s campus.
University President Lee Bollinger announced the decision to invite the leader in a statement Wednesday evening.
“It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas, or our naiveté about the very real dangers inherent in such ideas,” Bollinger said. “It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible.”
According to John Coatsworth, interim dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, Ahmadinejad expressed interest in speaking at Columbia in the past month to history Professor Richard Bulliet, communicating through Iran’s United Nations ambassador. When Ahmadinejad agreed to the conditions of speaking at the World Leaders Forum, such as answering spectators’ questions, the engagement was confirmed.
“Opportunities to hear, challenge, and learn from controversial speakers of different views are central to the education and training of students for citizenship in a shrinking and still dangerous world,” Coatsworth said in a statement.
The event, set to take place at 1:30 p.m. Monday in Roone Arledge Auditorium, will consist of a speech by Ahmadinejad as well as a question-and-answer session moderated by Coatsworth. A University spokesman said online registration for the 600-person event was capped within 90 minutes of opening Wednesday night.
The event will involve tight protection measures, including metal detectors, extensive security personnel, and a ban against any bags, purses, or signs. It will be the only event of the World Leaders’ Forum occurring in Lerner Hall.
The invitation recalled a similar proffer one year ago, when Lisa Anderson, then dean of SIPA, invited Ahmadinejad to speak on campus during the 2006 World Leaders Forum.
After learning of Anderson’s invitation, Bollinger chose not to lend it full University sponsorship. The next day, citing security and free speech concerns, Anderson rescinded the invitation—but not before tipping off a firestorm of criticism.
The similarity of the two invitations—and the deafening public response—were enough to confuse one major news service. Thursday afternoon, Bloomberg News reported that Columbia's offer to Ahmadinejad had been rescinded, mistaking a Sept. 2006 statement by Bollinger as having come from this year. The service later issued a correction.
The timing of Wednesday’s announcement coincided with the release of Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, one of four American citizens imprisoned in Iran more than eight months ago. According to Coatsworth, Bollinger had urged Iranian leaders to release Tajbakhsh, who earned a Ph.D at Columbia in 1993, over the summer, though it was not immediately clear whether the announcement of Ahmadinejad’s appearance was related.
“I don’t know whether the timing of this release is connected to President Ahmadinejad’s decision to speak at Columbia University,” Coatsworth said. “I can say that the timing is fortuitous and the coincidence of the two events is happy news."
Ahmadinejad’s appearance will likely spark intense protest from numerous religious, ethnic, and political groups, due to his stated desire to “wipe Israel off the map,” his denial of the Holocaust, his frequent anti-American comments, and Iran’s Uranium-enrichment program, which Iran maintains is for civilian energy use.
At least five student groups said last night that they planned to protest the event. Several student leaders received invitations Wednesday to speak with Bollinger about the event.
In a statement signed by the heads of at least thirteen campus groups, student leaders acknowledged the importance of hearing a diverse range of views but expressed concern that University officials kept them in the dark until yesterday’s announcement.
“In a university setting, no view is too disreputable to be excluded—the goal of a university is to hear and present a wide array of opinions so that they may be challenged and debated in the spirit of free speech and the pursuit of knowledge,” the statement read.
The news of the Iranian president’s arrival on campus came in a busy news week both for Ahmadinejad and Columbia. Less than two days ago, controversial Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist said that he had been invited to return to Columbia, 11 months after his speech in Roone Arledge Auditorium was halted by protestors storming the stage. That offer was put in limbo following the withdrawal of sponsorship by the Columbia Political Union.
Early yesterday, Ahmadinejad caused a stir when authorities confirmed that he requested an opportunity to visit Ground Zero one month ago. The New York Police Department, Secret Service, and Port Authority officials denied the request, saying that it was not possible because of construction. The NYPD also denied it based on security reasons.
And yesterday, Iranian officials issued statements saying they had drawn up plans to bomb Israel in the “unlikely event” of an attack on Iran. While Israel’s foreign minister expressed alarm at the news, the U.S dismissed them as “not constructive,” according to BBC News.
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/?q=node/26790
The Shah didn't know how to do . he was completely incompetent and corrupt and was defeated by the Islamic fundamentalists. We ed up by putting him back in power instead of letting Iranian nationalism run it's course in the 50s.
Any takers for bets on if this becomes a Bush Bashing session or not?
two words
where boutons?
Columbia University: Ahmadinejad Yes, ROTC No
William Kristol Thu Sep 20, 11:22 AM ET
Washington (The Daily Standard) - TWO DAYS AGO, Columbia University announced that next Monday, September 24, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will speak and participate in a question and answer session with university faculty and students at Columbia. According to the university statement, "This opportunity for faculty and students to engage the President of Iran came about after Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations initiated contact with Columbia through a member of the faculty, Richard Bulliet, who is a specialist on Iran."
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So at the request of the Iranian government, Columbia University will host the president of a terrorist regime which is right now responsible for the deaths of American soldiers on the field of battle. Indeed, this distinguished guest, who is so honoring Columbia by his presence, will be introduced by no one less than the president of Columbia, Lee Bollinger.
But not to worry: "President Bollinger will introduce the event by challenging President Ahmadinejad on a number of his controversial statements and his government's policies." Indeed, Bollinger manfully proclaimed in the university statement: "I also wanted to be sure the Iranians understood that I would myself introduce the event with a series of sharp challenges to the President on issues including:
* the Iranian President's denial of the Holocaust;
* his public call for the destruction of the state of Israel;
* his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;
* Iran's pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanction;
* his government's widely do ented suppression of civil society and particularly of women's rights; and
* his government's imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia's own alumni, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh."
One can imagine President Ahmadinejad nervously preparing for President Bollinger's "sharp challenges," and wondering whether those challenges will detract from the propaganda victory Bollinger's invitation has given him. He's undoubtedly concluded it won't be a big problem.
It should go without saying that the appropriate thing to do, when the Iranian ambassador called Columbia, would have been to say: No thanks. Or just, No. But that would be to expect too much of one of today's Ivy League university presidents.
In fact, the introduction with "sharp challenges" by Bollinger makes the situation even more of a disgrace. Now there will be the appearance of real dialogue, of Ahmadinejad answering challenges, which further legitimizes the notion that Holocaust denial, say, is a subject of legitimate and reasonable debate. But if Bollinger had chosen to deny Ahmadinejad's request, or not to dignify Ahmadinejad's appearance by his presence--then Bollinger would have been denied the opportunity to lecture us, in Columbia's press release, to this effect: "It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible. That such a forum could not take place on a university campus in Iran today sharpens the point of what we do here....This is America at its best."
Actually, this is a liberal university president at his stupidest. As Powerline's Scott Johnson put it, "Columbia's prattle about free speech may be a tale told by an idiot, but it signifies something. And President Bollinger is a fool who is not excused from the dishonor he brings to his ins ution and his fellow citizens by the fact that he doesn't know what he is doing."
Meanwhile: As Columbia welcomes Ahmadinejad to campus, Columbia students who want to serve their country cannot enroll in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Columbia. Columbia students who want to enroll in ROTC must travel to other universities to fulfill their obligations. ROTC has been banned from the Columbia campus since 1969. In 2003, a majority of polled Columbia students supported reinstating ROTC on campus. But in 2005, when the Columbia faculty senate debated the issue, President Bollinger joined the opponents in defeating the effort to invite ROTC back on campus.
A perfect synecdoche for too much of American higher education: they are friendlier to Ahmadinejad than to the U.S. military.
--William Kristol
http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystanda...nejadyesrotcno
William Kristol
Who's William Kristol?
Grand Poobah of the NeoCons.
Dude, I just googled him after you wrote that and I'm left wondering, how the had I never heard of this guy?
He doesn't make the media rounds as much as he used to, he's a regular part of the roundtable on Fox News Sunday.
All the warmth of a snow pea, but good analysis.
So when Kristol asks to speak at a college, he shouldn't be put off when they say "No thanks" or simply "No."
Opposing point of view... My God you are an idiot, aren't
you. No idiot is the wrong word. You are just plain
stupid dumb. Or is it you have no common sense.
Opposing point of view. What an understatement.
Basically I wanted this part of the article written by Kristol to be known
"Meanwhile: As Columbia welcomes Ahmadinejad to campus, Columbia students who want to serve their country cannot enroll in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Columbia. Columbia students who want to enroll in ROTC must travel to other universities to fulfill their obligations. ROTC has been banned from the Columbia campus since 1969. In 2003, a majority of polled Columbia students supported reinstating ROTC on campus. But in 2005, when the Columbia faculty senate debated the issue, President Bollinger joined the opponents in defeating the effort to invite ROTC back on campus."
Does it matter what side of the political spectrum he's in to grasp that? It's FACT. Ahmedinajad says The Holocaust didn't happen. That's false. Hopefully this goes in either your left or right ear.
Private universities are free to do whatever they want when it comes to ROTC and speakers.
Why do you hate freedom?
Also his father, Irving Krisol, is considered to be the founder of neoconservatism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Kristol
He earned his B.A. in History from the City College of New York in 1940, where he was an active Trotskyist. Before graduating, he met Gertrude Himmelfarb at a Trotskyist meeting, and they married on January 18, 1942.[3] He wrote in 1983 that he was “proud” to have been a member of the Fourth International in 1940.
The Fourth International (FI) is a communist international organisation working in opposition to both capitalism and Stalinism. Consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, it has striven for an eventual victory of the working class to bring about socialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_International
I think Ahmadinejad is a bad guy. Ahmadinejad thinks he's not a bad guy. He has an opposing point of view.
In any event, what difference does it make to you if he speaks at Columbia or not? Aren't people fighting for Columbia's right to act foolishly in terms of who it chooses to associate with? Or is that fighting really intended to protect a society in which a popular majority should be able to censor points of views that others might wish to hear?
Reffering to them as just terrorists would do just fine, I promise!!!
They don't hate freedom. They just want to "protect" us from hearing ideals that may corrupt our simple little minds, similar to what they do in Ira... Oh damn, wait a minute!!!
At least that's what they say for public consumption. The Kool-Aid drinking lemmings at least believe it. The rest of us know that they are anti-American, and want to indoctrinate their students with socialism, communism, etc. Anything except values that teaches one to rely on themselves and improve themselves instead of sucking the governments teats, or relying on the govenment in other ways.
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